Sermon Tone Analysis

Announcements

Pre-Thanksgiving Love Feast on Wednesday, November 24th at 7pm (in lieu of Bible Study & Prayer).

The food is taken care of, but we could use help with desserts and drinks.

Prepare to partake in the Lord’s Supper after dinner.

As you all know, on Sunday morning’s we’ve been working on the Gospel according to John, that has been our primary Sunday AM series since our church was started and we occasionally take breaks from the main series to focus on other series.

That’s about to happen again, we have this coming Sunday in the Gospel according to John, but the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we’ll be switching to our Christmas series.

Last year, we did an advent series, which was great, but we’re going to do it a little differently this time around.

Usually, in Advent, there is a different theme each week and the sermon is built around that theme with a focus on Christmas.

That was ok, but I felt it lacking in one sense.

To me, it felt as if, we were rushing through that one theme way too fast and we weren’t really learning what the theme was and how it applied to Christmas.

This year (and really, over the next few years), I want to take one theme and focus on it during the whole month leading up to Christmas.

So, last year, each week was a different theme—peace, joy, hope, and love.

This year, we’re going to focus on hope, next year we’ll focus on a different theme and so on.

Every sermon leading up to Christmas after Thanksgiving will be focused on the Hope of Christmas.

I’m excited for it, and I hope you’re excited for it as well.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the LORD through your giving.

We give because our LORD has been so gracious to us.

We give as part of our thankfulness for the many blessings that we’ve received.

To help you give, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) in-person giving can be done at the offering box.

Checks should be written to “Grace & Peace” and cash should be placed in an envelope, if you want a receipt for your gift; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] or by (3) visiting us online at graceandpeacepa.com.

Everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

As you know, our Wednesday evening services has been focused on the book of psalms and we’ve been working through the book verse-by-verse, line-by-line to learn what the text says and to apply it to our lives today.

We’ve intentionally been looking at psalms one-by-one, again with the purpose of understanding what it says in order to apply it to our lives properly.

So far, many of the psalms have been psalms of David, which isn’t surprising because David wrote quite a few of them, in fact, our psalm for this evening is also written by David.

Many scholars believe that Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 were originally connected; not necessarily, as one unit back-to-back, but almost like companion psalms.

This is supported by the fact that Psalm 10 doesn’t have a subscript or what we might call a title like Psalm 9 does.

In addition, to support this view is the fact that they both speak of similar subject matters—the realities of a fallen world, but the certainty of God’s triumph; or in other words, the triumph of God over the wicked.

The wicked may seem to prosper today, but ultimately, God wins.

The superscription or the title of Psalm 9 says that this is “to the choirmaster: according to Muth-Labben.

A Psalm of David.”

Obviously, this was written to be a song sang by a choir and it is to be sung according to Muth-Labben, which much like previous psalm titles that utilized the terms Gittith, Shiggaion, Sheminith, and Selah, we don’t really know what these terms mean, but the general understanding is that they’re all musical terms that told the Israelites how to sing these songs.

So, the Muth-Labben could have been a musical style, a tune, or any number of other musical ideas, but we aren’t positive on what precisely it is.

And then the superscription tells us that this is “A psalm of David.”

We aren’t certain on a time period in David’s life in which he could have written this, the psalm itself doesn’t say, however the psalm is general enough that we could suggest several times in which it could’ve been.

The major theme of the text is that we live in a fallen world, but ultimately God wins, which would suggest anytime that he faced tremendous opposition unfairly, but in this situation (Psalm 9), it’s clear that some amount of judgment or justice had taken place, which is why David praises the LORD immediately in the text; but it’s also clear that David is asking the LORD to continue acting in his justice and deliver him in the second half of the passage.

Let’s read Psalm 9 together, and I’ll explain how we’ll break down the passage:

As we study Psalm 9 together, we’re going to study it in two parts: (1) Vs. 1-12, Praise for God’s Righteousness, which starts with David praising the LORD by giving thanks to him and by recounting God’s wondrous deeds; in particular, the fact that God had acted in righteous judgment.

(2) Vs.

13-20, Prayer for the Afflicted, then continues the psalm by providing prayers of intersession for those who are or were afflicted (including David).

David prays for the afflicters to be judged and he calls upon the LORD to enact that judgment.

This psalm will teach us to praise the LORD when righteousness and justice is upheld and it will show us how we can pray concerning issues of injustice and unrighteousness.

Prayer for Illumination

Praise for God’s Righteousness (1-12)

Psalm 9 starts with David essentially giving us the purpose statement of this psalm or at least the first twelve verses of this psalm—that David will give thanks to the LORD and recount all of God’s wonderful deeds:

David says that he will give thanks to the LORD with his whole heart and that he will recount all of God’s wonderful deeds, but before he jumps straight into recounting all of God’s deeds, he returns back to that mission statement and says that “[he] will be glad and exult in [God]; [he] will sing praise to your name, O Most High.”

Let’s take a moment to break that down:

It is David’s goal in this psalm to give thanks to the LORD and to recount God’s wondrous deeds and in the first verse, he makes it clear that he’s going to do this with his whole heart.

I think this might sound a bit like common sense, but what this shows us is that David is intentionally doing this in an authentic way—he isn’t being facetious, he isn’t doing this half-heartedly; he genuinely wants to give thanks to the LORD.

We see his willingness to authentically give thanks, in the fact that he actually has reasons for his thankfulness.

It isn’t just a “well, thank you God that I’m still alive” moment.

He has multiple reasons for his thankfulness, which he divulges to us as he continues in this psalm, but before he does, he makes this additional statement

That he will be glad, he will exult in God, and he will sing praise to God’s name and then he calls God the Most High.

Vs. 2, expands what David is praying in by specifically telling us that he is praising God for who he is and what he has done.

Don’t get exult mixed up with exalt.

For David to exult in God means to rejoice in God—to exalt means to lift up to exult means to rejoice.

David is rejoicing in God, he isn’t lifting himself up in God; he’s expressing his thanksgiving and his praise in God.

It is notable, that David calls God, the Most High because it emphasizes David’s willingness to lift high God rather than himself.

In times in which it seems as something good has happened, which this is clearly one of them (that’s why David is giving thanks and praising the LORD), it’s easy for us to praise ourselves.

When things are good, it’s easy to puff ourselves up—look at how good I am, look at all that I have done, look at what I did; but David’s response was to call everyone to look at all that God had done and to praise and thank God for doing it.

We know this, because in the next six verses, David lists several different things that God did as part of his giving thanks to the LORD:

His enemies were turned back (3), they were rebuked (5) and they were destroyed.

His enemies have faced such great judgment that their names were blotted out forever (5) and their cities were destroyed (6)

David expounds on God’s righteousness and his justice as reasons for his praise and thanksgiving (7-8)

And as he lists all these different things that God did for him, he points to the fact that God judged those who were unrighteous and upheld David’s just cause.

In addition, David points out God sits enthroned on his throne forever (7) and that God’s throne is for justice.

David expresses that God is righteous, that he judges people rightly, and that God’s throne is the place for right judgment of all people.

There’s a contrast being made between the wickedness of the people and the goodness of the LORD—we could say it like this, though people act and react out of their sin, God only acts and reacts out of goodness.

Understanding this principle should cause within us the same sort of praise that David is expressing in these verses.

Because God only acts and reacts in goodness, we should:

Give thanks to the LORD authentically,

Recount all of God’s wondrous deeds,

Be glad and rejoice in him,

and sing praise to his name, O Most High.

David is expressing a beautiful notion in these verses—despite the injustice of the people, despite their wickedness, despite all the unrighteousness that David had faced from his enemies; he knows that the LORD is just, that he is good, and that he is righteous, which he highly emphasizes in Vs. 9-12.

The LORD is trustworthy, he is just, and he is righteous—he is a stronghold for the oppressed a stronghold in times of trouble, those that know him can trust him because God doesn’t forsake those who seek him.

Great praise can be shouted and sang towards him because he is mindful of those who suffer and struggle and he doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.

A stronghold is a military term, we don’t typically think of strongholds often because most of us don’t work in careers that necessitate a stronghold, but the idea is that it has been fortified against attack.

There is great protection there for the one inside the stronghold.

For those that are oppressed and are facing trouble, if they go to God, they can find great protection in him.

David says that those who know him can trust him because God doesn’t forsake his own—in Romans 10, Paul explains that salvation is by grace through faith and that all one must do to gain salvation is to confess with their mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in his heart that God raised him from the dead.

And then Paul writes, “as it is written” so he’s quoting the Old Testament, and he says this, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Those who believe can trust the LORD because the LORD doesn’t forsake his own.

In fact, Jesus himself says that he gives eternal life to those that believe and those who truly believe will never perish, because they are held in the very hand of God and no one can snatch someone out of the hand of God.

David shows us that we can sing praise towards the LORD even in suffering and struggle, because God doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.

Often, when we experience great trial and tribulation in life, we think that we’re all alone—that no one cares for us, no one has experienced suffering like this, and the further we continue in that mindset, we can think that God himself doesn’t care for us.

But let’s consider 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.”

What Paul writes in 1 Corinthians is that there is no unique temptation, struggle, or suffering.

Your temptation, struggle, or suffering isn’t something that only you have faced.

Solomon in Ecclesiastes says it like this, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

That alone is a comforting fact, but Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 10:13 by saying “God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide a way of escape, that you may endure it.”

Even in our suffering and struggle, the LORD is faithful and he hasn’t forgotten you—you are not alone, in fact, God will provide a way of escaping your suffering, your struggle, and your temptations.

Though arguably, in many sufferings, struggles, and temptations, the only way out is to run to God.

Regardless, David’s statement remains true, that even in suffering and struggle we can sing and shout praise to the LORD because God doesn’t forget the afflicted.

So, in the first twelve verses of Psalm 9, David praises the LORD authentically by recounting all the good that God had done despite David facing tremendous evil from wicked people.

David reflects on God’s justice and righteousness and ultimately realizes that God judges all people rightly; and he reflects on God’s mindfulness of those who are afflicted.

God cares for those who are suffering.

Then in the last eight verses, David shifts from praise to prayer.