Sermon Tone Analysis

The steamship Central American, on a voyage from New York to San Francisco, sprang a lead in mid-ocean.

A vessel, seeing her signal of distress, bore down towards her.

Perceiving her danger to be imminent, the captain of the rescue ship spoke to the Central American, asking, “What is amiss?”

“We are in bad repair, and going down; lie by till morning,” was the answer.

“Let me take your passengers on board now,” said the would be rescuer.

As it was night, the captain of the Central American did not like to transfer his passengers, lest some might be lost in the confusion, and, thinking that they could keep afloat some hours longer, replied, “Lie by till morning.”

Once again the captain of the rescue ship called, “You had better let me take them now.”

“Lie by till morning” was sounded back through the trumpet.

About an hour and a half later her lights were missed, and, though no sound was heard, the Central American had gone down, and all on board perished because it was thought they could be saved at another time.

While salvation is offered afresh to you now, dear friend, let me bid you speedily to obey the promptings of God’s Spirit, and:

Hasten, hasten to be blest,

Stay not for the morrow’s sun;

Lest perdition thee arrest,

Ere the morrow is begun.

—Leslie Greening

Evangelist of Dorset, England

Psalm, Complaint — (OT) A psalm focused on a crisis or distress or oppression experienced by an individual or community.

The psalm explains the crisis to God and asks for help.

@book{Mangum_2014,

place={Bellingham, WA},

title={The Lexham Glossary of Literary Types},

publisher={Lexham Press},

author={Mangum, Douglas},

year={2014}}

I.

The Believer’s Prayer vs 1-4

A. A Cry to be Heard vs. 1

prayer (act) n. — the act of communicating with a deity; especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving.

Why should God answer David or any of us?

Faithfulness אֱמֶתʾěměṯ firmness, trustworthiness; constancy, duration; faithfulness; truth Psalm 31:1 and I John 1:9.

Righteousness n. — adherence to what is required according to a standard; for example, a moral standard, though not always.

צְדָקָהṣeḏā·qā(h) honesty; justice; justness; community loyalty; entitlement, just cause; just deeds

B. A Conclusion to be Halted vs. 2

Job 14:3

God is covering the sin in the old testament with the blood of the Sacrifices, but only the blood of Jesus the perfect lamb of God can take away the sins of the saved.

The Psalmist does not want judgment but only mercy.

His plea is, “In thy sight shall no man living be justified upon those terms, for no man can plead innocency nor any righteousness of his own, either that he has not sinned or that he does not deserve to die for his sins; nor that he has any satisfaction of his own to offer;” nay, if God contend with us, we are not able to answer him for one of a thousand, Job 9:3; 15:20.

David, before he prays for the removal of his trouble, prays for the pardon of his sin, and depends upon mere mercy for it.

C. A Competitor to be Hurt vs. 3

in the clouds of melancholy, as helpless and hopeless as those that have been long dead.

Lord, let me find mercy with thee, for I find no mercy with men.

They condemn me; but, Lord, do not thou condemn me.

Am not I an object of thy compassion, fit to be appeared for; and is not my enemy an object of thy displeasure, fit to be appeared against?”

D. A Core to be hollow vs. 4

IV.

He bemoans the oppression of his mind, occasioned by his outward troubles (v.

4): Therefore is my spirit overpowered and overwhelmed within me, and I am almost plunged in despair; when without are fightings within are fears, and those fears greater tyrants and oppressors than Saul himself and not so easily out-run.

It is sometimes the lot of the best men to have their spirits for a time almost overwhelmed and their hearts desolate, and doubtless it is their infirmity.

David was not only a great saint, but a great soldier, and yet even he was sometimes ready to faint in a day of adversity.

Howl, fir-trees, if the cedars be shaken.

We are taught by his example not to throw up the conflict in despair, however much we may be weakened, and even exanimated by afflictions, as God will enable us to surmount them, if we only rise to him with our hearts amidst all our anxieties.

II.

The Believer’s Plan vs. 5-6

A. Understanding God’s Power vs.5

1. Recall of God’s Past

Sometimes, it is true, our trials are only more keenly felt when we recall the former kindness which God may have shown to us, the comparison tending to awaken our feelings, and render them more acute; but David proposed a different end than this to himself, and gathered confidence from the past mercies of God.

The very best method in order to obtain relief in trouble, when we are about to faint under it, is to call to mind the former loving-kindness of the Lord.

Nor does David mean such as he had experienced from childhood, as some have thought, adopting in my judgment too restricted a sense; for the word קדם, kedem, has a more extensive signification.

I have no doubt, therefore, that he includes past history, as well as his own personal experience, it being easy to discover proofs there of God’s continued goodness to his people.

Psalm 77:11,5

2. Reflect on God’s Power Psalm 92:4, 90:17

3. Ruminate on God’s Provision

B. Understanding God’s presence vs.6

He makes use of a striking figure to set forth the ardour of his affection, comparing his soul to the parched earth.

In great heats we see that the earth is cleft, and opens, as it were, its mouth to heaven for moisture.

David therefore intimates, he drew near to God with vehement desire, as if the very sap of life failed him, as he shows more fully in the verse which follows.

In this he gives another proof of his extraordinary faith.

Feeling himself weak, and ready to sink into the very grave, he does not vacillate between this and the other hope of relief, but fixes his sole dependence upon God.

1. Reaching for God Job 11:13,

2. Request for God Proverbs 25:25, Psalm 63:1

III.

The Believer’s Pleas 7-12

1. Promptly hear my prayer Lord vs 7 Psalm 69:17

speedily … to Hurry (rush)

Why?

And heavy as the struggle was that he underwent with his own felt weakness, the fainting of spirit he speaks of was a better stimulant to prayer than any stoical obstinacy he might have shown in suppressing fear, grief, or anxiety.

We must not overlook the fact, how in order to induce himself to depend exclusively upon God, he dismisses all other hopes from his mind, and makes a chariot to himself of the extreme necessity of his case, in which he ascends upwards to God.

a. Danger of a spiritual collapse Psalm 84:2

b.

Danger of a physical collapse Psalm 28:1

The danger of full shut down drives him to the only solution … Prayer to God.

2. Point me to Your Path Lord 8-10

a.

To Know Your Way vs 8

The timing of morning is not a sacrifice as some have suggested, which occurs in the morning and evening but a new day.

A fresh start for the individual going through difficulty.

b.

To Know Your Welcome vs 9

To find cover under who God is for protection this supplies Hope which the verb chisithi renders

c.

To Know Your Will vs 10

teaches us to look to God’s good spirit for this leading; in other words, for an inward work of inclining the will and awakening the mind.

The plea for a level path, or more accurately ‘level land’ (the term used for the broad plateau allotted to Reuben, Deut.

4:43), implies the admission that one is prone to stumble, not only to stray.

It can also be translated, in less pictorial terms, ‘the land of uprightness’, which reinforces the prayer ‘to do thy will’ (10a).

3. Preserve me in Your Power vs 11-12

11, 12. Meanwhile life itself is at risk; but David can look to God’s firm commitment.

This is the force of his appeal to God’s name (cf.

106:8), righteousness and steadfast love (see on 17:7), for God is pledged to his servant (12c) as surely as his servant is pledged to him.

If God cared nothing for his name, for the cause of right or for his covenant, we might have doubts of his salvation.