Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In a recent podcast of Al Mohler he brought up the contrast between what the world thinks are the most important headlines, like the Mueller report that apparently exonerates President Trump from collusion with the Russians and that of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He goes on saying, “. . .

at this time of year, even people who are not Christians, especially in the lands where Christianity was once common, there’s a great deal of attention to the celebration of what is called Easter . .

..” In short, he points out that we as Christians know that every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of the Lord, and that it is wrong to think that this truth is only important to us one day a year.

That fact is Jesus Christ’s resurrection is the only hope for sinful humanity.

(The Briefing, 4/19/2019, Al Mohler.com)

That last statement is my point today.

The Resurrection of Christ from the dead is the only hope you and I have in this world.

To put your hope in anything else, such as money, health, living life your own way, false teachings such as this is all there is so live it with gusto, or there are a thousand ways to heaven.

Or there is no heaven or Hell is here on earth.

All of those ideas are shattered by this one truth: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

My desire, my challenge today is to call you, to beg you, to plead with you to put all your trust in the Lord.

That is my point today.

DT:

Put all your trust in the Lord

is the passage I want to use to convince you to put your trust in the Lord today.

In this passage is a plea based on David’s confidence in the Lord, his total satisfaction with the Lord, and his confidence even in death.

To be sure King David writes this as a personal testimony.

But there is a second tier to this, that is actually the most important one, for he acts the part of a prophet speaking not of himself, but of Jesus Christ as we will see from the apostles.

But first let us unpack this psalm then we will wrap it up with the Apostles application in the NT.

I. His prayer:

Preserve me O God

preserve me - accords with it means to watch or keep, its main meaning is to exercise great care over. in this case as a flock, or a house to guard it or them.

When the subject is God it means “to observe the object carefully so as to protect it.”

( Waltke, B. K., Houston, J. M., & Moore, E. (2010).

The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (p.

328).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.)

1 Waltke, B. K., Houston, J. M., & Moore, E. (2010).

The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (p.

328).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

1 Waltke, B. K., Houston, J. M., & Moore, E. (2010).

The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (p.

328).

Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

He prays to ‘El’ the strong one, the mighty one.

Of the many names for God he chooses this one.

He doesn’t cry out to Adonai, to YHWH, to Elohim, to Kurios, to He cries out to EL.

The everpresent one, the El Shaddai. the Almighty one.

the weak crying out to the strong who is able to uphold all things by the word of his power.

The prayer: preserve me

He is not asking to be saved in terms of not dying.

But as we see rather that God would watch over him, and as we will see directly, that He would direct his life and bring him to that place of rest in His presence.

Look at the ways that David was preserved as he fled from King Saul or when He was protected from the Philistine King when he feigned madness.

or the time he fled from his son Absalom.

the plea or basis: in thee do I take refuge

Since this is really about Jesus be mindful of the ways Jesus was preserved throughout his life finally culminating in the resurrection.

Think of when He was an infant protected from King Herod, or when he was able to escape those many times from those who wanted to stone Him.

Or finally, when He escaped the tomb.

Be mindful of the ways Jesus was preserved throughout his life finally culminating in the resurrection.

For

He prays to ‘El’ the strong one, the mighty one.

Of the many names for God he chooses this one.

He doesn’t cry out to Adonai, to YHWH, to Elohim, to Kurios, to He cries out to EL.

The everpresent one, the El Shaddai. the Almighty one.

the weak crying out to the strong who is able to uphold all things by the word of his power.

But notice in where He prays for the preservation of His saints, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

Next notice the basis of his plea - He runs into the refuge who is God.

even at the last on the cross he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

even Job said, “though he slay me yet will I trust in him.”

this is what Jesus did.

notice the basis of his plea - He runs into the refuge who is God.

even at the last on the cross he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

even Job said, “though he slay me yet will I trust in him.”

this is what Jesus did.

The basis for that confident prayer: Trust in Him “IN thee do I put my trust.”

Let me ask you who are you trusting this morning?

Who has the headline in your mind today?

Herein lies the key to the prayer

elaborated on by:

II: Confession of trust in the Lord-

You are my Lord, 2-4

Notice the KJV “O my soul” is in italics, The reality is that in keeping with the context this is the writer declaring his loyalty to the Lord.

He is saying “I say to the Lord, YOU are my LORD.

You are my I AM.

So this is a

pledge of loyalty to the Lord.

In fact, he goes on to say, “I have no good apart from you.”

In other words all his hope is found in the Lord, not himself.

pledge of loyalty to the people of God

and detest what God detest

As He loves the saints, he hates the apostates, those who reject God.

The Saints are those who are separated from sin, who are committed to the Lord, those who believe.

They are separate from impurity and so are clean.

The king delights in those who put their faith and trust in the Lord.

v.4

On the other hand, those who run after another god, their sorrows increase exponentially.

See the contrast here between those who put their trust in the Lord and those who do not.

Notice those who chase other gods, like a man chases after a girl.

He thinks he cannot live without her.

or they think that all their hope lies in something or someone else apart from the Lord.

That just proves futile.

How many are the sorrows of that person who makes bad choice one after another and the ruin and disaster of their life in terms of family, health, financial ruin, shame.

So what are you going to do?

How has what you have been pursuing working out for you?

His thinking here is that He loves what God loves.

It is as the two great commandments are Love God and Love your neighbor.

This is evidence of confident trust.

There are many passages to go to support that thought, but 1 John comes quickly to mind that if you say you love me and do not love those whom you see how does the love of God abide in you?

And so there is this confession of total trust and confidence in the Lord as he expands on the statement, “In thee do I put my trust.”

III.