Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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We’ve got ourselves a good news/bad news situation.
The bad news is that many people believe Psalm 9-10 go together—that they should be read as one psalm, studied together as one psalm, preached as one long psalm.
The good news is that I disagree.
I think there’s plenty to work through in Psalm 9 that I’m going to split them up.
All God’s people say, “Whew!” “I really thought he was going to preach both psalms this morning…can you imagine how late we’d be to lunch if he preaches any longer than normal?”
I thought long and hard about preaching the two psalms together, but I don’t see the reason, quite.
So with that, and because I love you, we’re going to take Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 separately.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do) please turn with me to Psalm 9.
If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word:
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ve always wanted to be a “The”.
You know, “The Hulk”, “The Finisher”, “The Man”, “The Fridge”, something.
David is what we all should be.
David could well be known as “The Worshiper.”
That’s who he is; it’s what he does.
He spends as much time as anyone recorded in the Bible worshipping the Lord.
Here’s the thing, though: we are all “The Worshiper”, it’s just a matter of what we’re worshipping.
We are made to worship; we are born-worshippers.
We will worship something, someone, and if we can’t settle on either of those, we will worship self.
Guaranteed.
You are “The Worshiper”; it just depends upon what you’re worshipping...
Have you ever thought about what it is you worship?
I hope you have.
It’s so crucial to a life well-lived that we identify our idols, smash our idols to pieces, repent of our idolatry, and turn to the Lord.
He will share His glory with no other.
He is a jealous God—holy and righteous and jealous.
You are the worshipper.
It interesting, this is a psalm of David, set to a particular tune, for the director of music.
We’ve seen this before in our “Psummer in the Psalms”.
The implication of this title being that David wrote this song as something true of himself and applicable to situations of those belonging to the assemblies of the Lord’s people.
Psalm 9 uses some first-person pronouns—I, my, me—no doubt these are speaking about David, the psalm’s author.
But this is also, likely, the reality of the collective people of Israel.
It’s like when we sing: “I sing because I’m happy” and sing it together.
We mean we.
Or, “I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene” and sing it together; we mean we.
These psalm lyrics are ours.
They belong to us.
David’s words—Holy Spirit inspired words—are our words.
We are the worshipper of Psalm 9.
The worshiper worships the Lord:
For Past Acts (Psalm 9:1-6)
Sometimes the only thing we can think to praise God for is something that happened way back.
Sometimes what we’re going through is so difficult that we can’t begin to see what the Lord is doing for us and in us and through us; sometimes we have to look back.
It might be to an event, a rescue, a happy time where the hand of God is clearly seen and unmistakably felt.
David starts his song with praise and rejoicing:
David’s singing his heart out.
This is personal for him—I, my, I, I , I. David is praising the Lord wholeheartedly.
He’s spreading the news about God.
He is glad in God.
He’s singing the song the Lord put in his heart.
And, at least initially, David’s not singing about something the Lord is doing currently; he singing about past acts:
This is in the past—all of it.
David’s enemies had turned back from pursuing him; they stumbled and perished, and why?
Because the Lord took charge and set everything right.
And so David praises the Lord for all this that has happened.
The Lord rebuked the nations.
He destroyed the wicked.
He blotted out their name.
He uprooted their cities, so much so that even the memory of his enemies had perished.
That’s how long ago this act took place—the act for which David is singing and praising the Lord—so long that memory can’t recall his enemies exactly, but can’t forget the Lord’s acting on his behalf.
The worshiper worships the Lord for His past acts.
What has God done for you in the past for which you can praise Him still?
Maybe this is something from way, way back?
Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve sensed the Lord at work in your life, but you can still remember what He did way back then.
Sometimes worship requires us to look in the rear-view mirror, squint our eyes, and see what took place there so very long ago.
What has God done for you in the (recent or distant) past for which you can praise Him still?
[Congregational Sharing]
>Worship the Lord for past acts and:
For Present Works (Psalm 9:7-14)
David sings next about the Lord’s present work in the world.
David knows that God is at work, but not just in the past; He is at work TODAY.
We have an active and involved God—who reigns and rules and judges; a God enthroned in Zion.
David makes this statement of this fact and then a declaration of praise; the worshiper worships the Lord for His present works:
In verses 7-14, David is saying something like:
“My deliverances, my victories, are simply mini-demonstrations of where everything is headed, not naturally, but because Yahweh is the Just King and will put things right at the last.”
David can count on the Lord in the present; he knows that ‘though the wrongs seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.’
It’s the grand assurance of the presently-working God that He never forsakes those who seek Him; He never forgets those who cry out in their affliction:
In your seeking, in your suffering, in your affliction, you are not abandoned.
I like to be honest, in church especially: Life, at times, just kind of stinks.
Life is filled with loss and heartache, so much so that, often times, the bad seems to outweigh the good.
And sometimes that’s reality.
But all is not lost.
The Lord is at work, presently, at this moment, currently, right now—He will never leave you or forsake you.
He remembers what you’re going through; your afflicted cries are not ignored.
Like a salve for the soul, these may be the very assurances some of you need rubbed into your pain this very moment.
I love the way Eugene Peterson translates these verses:
Sometimes what we need at the moment, in the present, is just a safe place to land—rest and comfort in the Lord is just what we need.
And the Lord provides.
All I have needed the Lord is providing.
The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing.
David sings of the Lord’s present and future mercy:
David makes a plea for mercy; he appeals to the merciful God.
And all of this so that, so that, so that David can declare the praises of the Lord, so that, so that, so that (verse 14) he can rejoice in God’s salvation.
For David, it all comes back to praise.
The worshiper worships the Lord for His present works.
Consider His present works, even on a grand scale: He keeps the world in ordered existence.
He keeps our planet from careening out of orbit and flying into the sun; keeps it tilted at just the right angle so we don’t fry or freeze to death.
Consider His present works: new morning mercies.
That breath you just took.
And that one.
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