“ Separate from the world ” Dr. Morecraft explains that a Christian should not let the world dictate to him his goals, his values, his lifestyle, his dress, or what's important to him. Christians should separate themselves and their families from the ways and superstitions of this unregenerate world. As John Calvin wrote in his commentary on Psalm 16: "We cannot be united into the one body of the Church under God, if we do not break off all the bonds of impiety, separate ourselves from idolaters, and keep ourselves pure and at a distance from all the pollutions which corrupt the holy service of God."
“ Calvinism won't save you from hell ” In offering words of application for this sermon, Dr. Morecraft quotes from a commentator as follows: "It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of men that principles merely professed, however excellent, which do not sanctify the heart and mould the character, cannot be acceptable with God." In other words, Calvinism won't save you from hell. You may have wonderful Calvinistic principles and doctrines, but how are they affecting your life and character?
“ Depression is caused by unbelief ” Dr. Morecraft explains that Psalm 13 teaches us how to avoid depression. Depression is caused by unbelief (unless it's caused by poor blood circulation, or by a vitamin deficiency, or some other genuine diagnosable physical condition - which is only a small percentage of reasons for depression). It is caused by a failure to trust God when it's difficult to trust Him, and to be more concerned with ourselves than we are with God and with God's bounty. Christians never have to get depressed (unless it's a diagnosable physical condition). Depression comes upon us because of a failure to trust God. Life hurts, and whatever leads us to prayer is good for us.
“ Great Sermon! ” Outstanding sermon...don't care for r.l. dabney(he was a racist)but overall loved the message...wish I could broadcast this message over all the major networks.....
“ The failure of the church ” Dr. Morecraft explains that the spiritual condition of the church determines the political, economic, social and international condition of the nation in which that church lives. If the president or ruling party changes but the church doesn't change, nothing is going to get any better. Things are going to get worse. What is necessary to get a culture out of decline? A church that is being revived by the Holy Spirit of God, and a culture where God is rooting out and removing the alloy from places of power and influence. The reason the anti-Christians, pro-abortionists, supporters of homosexual marriage, and other leftists are out there controlling the media, politics, education and all the rest, is because of the failure of the church. Because the church has not been what she should be, those are out there harassing us as God's judgment on us. The church needs to repent for being backslidden and disregarding the law of God. When Christians truly repent, God will start changing the church and the nation will be restored.
“ What can the righteous do? ” The question of Psalm 11:3, “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” is asked of David by his cowardly, escapist friends. David's cowardly friends are saying that once the pillars of society have fallen, the righteous can't do anything except run away. But they were wrong. As Dr. Morecraft explains, the biblical answer to the question, “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” is "a lot!" During times of national decline, there's much the righteous man can do and must do in the power of God. For America in the early days, those foundations were faith in God, and submission to God's law contained in the Bible. The righteous can stand on God's revelation of Himself and His will for men and nations in the Bible. He can keep on being righteous in life and work to rebuild the foundations until he sees God restore those foundations and frustrate the effort of those warring against Him. A faithful man with God's help can stop evil forces dead in their tracks and recover the day. The righteous man must rebuild the foundations; give all his life, resources, and energy to the restoring of those foundations with the help of God.
“ Prosperity begets presumption ” In discussing Psalm 10:6, Dr. Morecraft quotes from an eighteenth century commentator as follows: "Prosperity begets presumption, and he who has been long accustomed to see his designs succeed, begins to think it impossible they should ever do otherwise." An unbelieving wealthy man soon develops an attitude of invulnerability.
“ God requires blood ” In preaching on Psalm 9:12, Dr. Morecraft explains that God will avenge the shedding of the innocent blood of His people by their enemies and He will always respond to the cries of His people. No cry of any of God's needy, afflicted people will go unanswered and unavenged. Why? Because our God requires blood. Why is God going to shed the blood of His enemies that persecute His people? Because our God requires blood from those who rebel against Him. Our God requires blood because He is a righteous, holy God. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Why? Because God requires blood. The wages of sin is death. Why? Because God requires blood. Nations that have risen in opposition to the Lord have perished throughout the thousands of years of human history. Why? Because God requires blood. God requires the blood of anyone who has ever sinned against Him, or the blood of a Substitute. Without the shedding of Christ's blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Why? Because God requires blood.
“ Great Sermon! ” This was such an encouraging sermon and I understood things I never saw before. Such clear delivery and easy to grasp. The Lord be praised for Dr Morecraft
“ God can be rough on us ” Dr. Morecraft explains that God gave Lot a very strong command to get out of the city, but Lot hesitated. Therefore God had His angels grab Lot and his wife and daughters by the scruff of the neck and pull them out of the city kicking and screaming. God can be rough on us, not because He's mean or unloving. When we don't give heed to God's commands, He knows we are putting ourselves in a dangerous place, so sometimes He has to grab us by the scruff of the neck and pull us out of where we should not be. God deals roughly with people if they don't give heed. He does it not because He is angry but because He is compassionate. He wants to remove them from danger.
“ How to handle slander ” Dr. Morecraft explains that slander is a vicious thing, and that was the kind of persecution that David was having to deal with. But when you defend yourself against slander, you sound guilty. Therefore, the proper way to handle slander is to follow David's example: 1) Trust in the name of the Lord; 2) Pray for God's justice. Ask God to bring His justice to bear upon the slanderers.
“ God chastens His people ” In explaining that God chastens His people, Dr. Morecraft quotes from William Plumer's Studies in the Book of Psalms: "Many a man's soul has been saved by the destruction of his body with wasting disease. . . . God loves his people too well to let them wander on in sin, and drop into hell for the want of a little needful and wholesome severity."
“ To love God's name ” In one part of this sermon, Dr. Morecraft quotes from William Plumer's Studies in the Book of Psalms to explain what it means to love God's name: "To love God's name is to love him and all, by which he has made himself known. All the righteous have this love. All of them think upon God's name, cherish it, glory in it. To hear it lightly spoken of gives them pain. To hear it blasphemed shocks their sensibilities. But when it is honored, extolled, praised, they are happy. They delight in God's name, titles, attributes, works, word, worship, ordinances, and people."
“ The Psalms road to salvation ” Dr. Morecraft explains that you can lead somebody to Christ from the book of Psalms if you know what you're doing. These are the four spiritual laws of the book of Psalms: First, only God is righteous. Secondly, all human beings are unrighteous. Thirdly, the God of grace and mercy is the only source of salvation for sinners. And fourthly, the God of grace saves sinners by giving them the very righteousness He requires of them.
“ Pray like David prayed ” Dr. Morecraft explains that the most powerful way of praying is to pray like David prayed. First, turn revealed truths about God into loving adoration of God. Adore God, that is, tell God things about Himself that you love. Take what God has revealed about Himself in the Bible and turn that into loving adoration of God. Secondly, take the covenant promises of God and turn them into petitions to God to do what He promised. This kind of praying (of turning revealed truths about God into loving adoration of Him, and turning covenant promises into petitions to Him) only flows out of a life of repentance, faith, covenant faithfulness, life in the Word of God, and hope.
“ The Lord will vex the enemies of His church ” To illustrate the point that God will vex the enemies of His church, Dr. Morecraft quotes from William Plumer's Studies in the Book of Psalms: "Of thirty Roman Emperors, governors of provinces and others high in office, who distinguished themselves by their zeal and bitterness in persecuting the early Christians, one became speedily deranged after some atrocious cruelty, one was slain by his own son, one became blind, the eyes of one started out of his head, one was drowned, one was strangled, one died in a miserable captivity, one fell dead in a manner that will not bear recital, one died of so loathsome a disease that several of his physicians were put to death because they could not abide the stench that filled his room, two committed suicide, a third attempted it, but had to call for help to finish the work, five were assassinated by their own people or servants, five others died the most miserable and excruciating deaths, several of them having an untold complication of diseases, and eight were killed in battle or after being taken prisoners. Among these was Julian the apostate . . . when he was wounded in battle, he saw that all was over with him, and he gathered up his clotted blood, and threw it into the air, exclaiming, 'Thou hast conquered, O thou Galilean.'"
“ The progression of sin ” Among other things, Dr. Morecraft discusses the progression in the metaphors from walking to standing to sitting. If you walk with the ungodly, you're going to start standing with them. And if you stand with them, you're going to start sitting in hardness with them and in impenitence and stubbornness of heart. This warning about walking, standing, and sitting with the ungodly reminds us of the increasing grip evil practices and evil habits have on a person; of the increasing paralysis that sin produces. It causes a person gradually to degenerate when sin is left alone in his or her life. Sin is not something to play with. Sin is ambitious; it's always trying to get you to do something that's more evil, and something that's more evil after that. If you walk with the evil people, you will start standing with the evil people. If you start standing with them, then you'll become as defiant in your refusal to live for God as they have been.
“ Learning from the best Christian books ” As Dr. Morecraft explains, you need to be teaching yourself the Word of God. You should be involved in self-instruction, reading and meditating upon the Word of God yourself. But not in an individualistic way because self-instruction must always take place within the context of the community of the Reformed faith. It takes the Reformed community, existing throughout history, to understand the Word of God. If you're trying to educate yourself in the Word of God, and all you have is yourself and your Bible, that will not be adequate. Your own personal interpretation is not sufficient to work through many of the difficulties and hard places of the Scriptures. You need the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit works in our lives through the community of God's people throughout the ages. Read what the community of the Reformed faith believed through the centuries. As a solitary individual it can be hard to know how to understand some Bible verses. But if they are looked at in terms of 2000 years of Christian community, that will provide a breadth and depth of understanding for self-instruction. This means reading the Bible in the light of great preachers or writers about the Bible throughout history.
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