Pslam 36
August 15, 2021
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good… Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is… You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and professor

“A deep sense of sin, a humble willingness to be saved in God’s way, a teachable readiness to give up our own prejudices when a more excellent way is shown, these are the principal things.”

~ J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), writer, first Anglican bishop of Liverpool

“If you receive blanket acceptance, you need no repentance. You just accept it. It fills you without humbling you. It relaxes you without upsetting you about yourself – or thrilling you about Christ. It lets you relax without reckoning with the anguish of Jesus on the cross. It is easy and undemanding. It does not insist on, or work at, changing you. It deceives you about both God and yourself… God does not accept me just as I am; He loves me despite how I am. He loves me just as Jesus is; He loves me enough to devote my life to renewing me in the image of Jesus.”

~ David Powlison

“The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We…put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God puts himself where we deserved to be.”

~ John Stott (1921-2011), London theologian, rector and writer

“Love is the only fire that is hot enough to melt the iron obstinacy of a creature’s will.”

~ Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), English minister

Sermon Passage

Pslam 36 (ESV)

¹ Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
² For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
³ The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
⁴ He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.
⁵ Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O LORD.
⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.
¹⁰ Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
¹¹ Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
¹² There the evildoers lie fallen;
they are thrust down, unable to rise.