Sermon Tone Analysis

Announcements

We’re still looking for volunteers for a handful of ministries:

(1) We’re still looking for someone to take the office of treasurer immediately.

There are a few prerequisites to that position in that you must be a member in good standing and you have to be comfortable with money and working with the bank.

If you’re interested in that, please talk with me about it as soon as possible.

(2) We’d like to get more people involved with different aspects of our worship service, including reading Scripture, leading prayer, and singing and playing instruments in the worship team.

If you have any interest in those ministries please talk with Natalie as soon as possible.

(3) We recently heard from the Philipsburg Revitalization Corporation that the Christmas tree in town wasn’t decorated this year because they couldn’t find volunteers to decorate the tree.

I’d like for our church to step up and help them out with that.

If you have any interest in helping us decorate the tree in town, please talk with Natalie about it, I’d like for us to get it done by Friday—it’s really just a way for us to show the community that we care.

Please be aware of the following dates:

There will be no Wednesday evening services on December 22nd and 29th.

Instead, join us for the following special events:

Christmas Eve Carols & Lessons at 7pm in the Auditorium; followed by a dessert social in the Activity Room.

New Year’s Eve Celebration from 7pm-12am.

Of course, please continue to worship the LORD through your giving.

Our church is completely funded by your faithful giving.

We aren’t supported by a larger denomination nor are we supported by any agency, we’re completed supported by those who give as unto the LORD.

Without your giving, we wouldn’t be able to do anything that we’re doing.

To help you give, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) you can give in-person at the offering box located at the front of the building.

If you give a check please write it to Grace & Peace and if you give cash and you’d like a receipt for your gift, please place it in an envelope with your name on it.

If you’d rather give via credit, debit, or bank transfers you can do that either by (2) texting the number 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or by (3) visiting us online at www.gapb.church

and selecting giving in the menu bar.

Everything that 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

This evening’s message is a continuation of our series in the book of Psalms and quite honestly, the text of Psalm 11 is actually rather short.

However, despite its short text, the psalm itself is filled with great riches to mine.

And much like many of the other psalms, it’s highly relatable to anyone who has experienced any amount of great difficulty in life.

As you turn to Psalm 11, let me give you some background information about the psalm.

The exact timing of Psalm 11 is completely unknown.

The psalm itself doesn’t give us too much information, however, some of the imagery of David being told to go into the mountain resembles the time in David’s life in which he ran from King Saul and hid in the caves in the mountain (though again, we can’t be certain on that because the text itself doesn’t record that information).

Regardless of the precise timing of the psalm, we know that David is facing a situation in which there’s a concern for his life and people are telling him he ought to run for his life, but he chooses to take refuge in the LORD.

Which again, ought to be relatively relatable for most of us, because even if we’ve never faced the exact situation that David faces in Psalm 11, we’ve all experienced times in life when people have told us we should just quit and leave.

But its important to keep in mind David’s resolve in Psalm 11, “In the LORD I take refuge.”

Let’s read Psalm 11 together.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) Vs. 1-3 is David’s Temptation to Flee and this actually isn’t talking about temptation the same way that we typically talk about temptation.

This is David experiencing others tempting him to run.

Vs. 4-7 is his Confidence in the LORD.

Despite his friends telling him to run, David remains firm in the LORD.

Prayer for Illumination

David’s Temptation to Flee (1-3)

Now, remember that we aren’t particularly sure of when exactly this psalm is about, it could be just a general statement of any time that David had faced enemies seeking to do him harm.

It could be of a more particular moment in his life like when King Saul chased him or possibly when Absalom’s attempt to steal his throne was made known to him by his people and they told him to flee, but regardless, the idea is the same.

He’s facing some amount of enemy warfare against him.

And again, it could be when King Saul chased him for his life or it could be when Absalom was coming to take his throne; and the psalm starts with David making a statement and posing a question.

“In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain?”

He starts by questioning the suggestions of his friends or advisors telling him to flee by making the statement that he takes refuge in the LORD—we’ve talked about what it means to take refuge in something before, but nevertheless, let me just give you a solid idea of what this means.

To take refuge in something or someone means “to go to or into a place for shelter or protection from danger or trouble” (Merriam-Webster), which means to take refuge in the LORD means to go to him in times of danger or trouble, to rely on him for protection, and to hope in him for shelter.

And with the way that David says “In the LORD I take refuge,” the mindset that he’s portraying is that he takes refuge in the LORD alone.

Rather than running, he relies on God for protection, rather than hiding, he hopes in the LORD for shelter.

David expresses disdain towards their suggestions by questioning how they could tell him to “flee like a bird to your mountain.”

Knowing what David knows about God, his disdain or consternation towards their suggestion is understandable.

David knows the LORD to the extent that the Bible itself calls David a man after God’s own heart.

David has known God since his time as a child as a shepherd in the field.

When David slays Goliath he does it in the name of the LORD.

He knows the LORD well enough to know that God is the proper place to run in times of great danger or trouble because he knows that God protects his own people.

Knowing God and what all God does to protect his own people, David is right in questioning their suggestion to run.

But arguably, they’re only making the suggestion that he run because of the plots of David’s enemies.

Vs. 2, “For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, they have set their arrow on the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.”

This sets forth a vivid image of warfare, with those that seek to do harm to the upright in heart having their bow bent and arrow on the string.

And this imagery is given in such a way that those who are seeking to do harm to the upright in heart are ready to do that harm immediately.

Maybe you’ve never seen how a bow works, but you typically don’t bend the bow until you’re ready to shoot the arrow.

Particularly with longbows or bows utilized in warfare, it actually takes a bit of effort to bend the bow far enough to send an arrow shooting, which means that unless an archer has their target in view, they aren’t going to bend their bow back.

David’s friends are warning him to flee because his enemies have him in their sights, they’re already aiming at him, and they’re prepared to shoot at him.

It’s of note that they do this in darkness, which while it could just be a way of saying that they’re attacking him at night, I’m going to suggest that due to the figurative nature of poetry, this could also relate that they’re doing this with a certain heart or mindset.

That they’re not doing it for righteous reasons, but rather doing it for evil reasons.

And I’m suggesting this based off the figurative nature of poetry

And I’m suggesting it because of the contrast between darkness and the upright.

If David is the upright in heart, than those who are shooting at him in darkness can’t be upright in their motives.

If David is the one who is righteous in this text, then those pursuing him and attacking must be unrighteous in their attack.

David would be the one in the light, whereas his pursuers are the ones in darkness.

With that in mind, it would seem as if his friends are right in their suggestion that he should run, especially considering their last sentence in Vs. 3, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

This sentence alone is a vital sentence for all Christians to remember.

Because it’s so apparently true, but we frequently allow foundations to crumble in such a way that those who were standing on the foundation falter.

Consider with me issues such as creation and the inerrancy of Scripture—in both situations, the Bible is clear.

Genesis 1-2 teach us that God created the heavens and the earth with his voice in six literal days. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that all Scripture is breathed out by God.

Now consider what happens when those two truths are doubted.

When creation in six literal days by the very words of God is doubted it might not seem like a significant issue at first.

However, when you lose the miraculous event of creation, you also lose the importance of mankind being made in the image of God.

Mankind is only made in the image of God if God himself chose to create mankind.

If God didn’t create mankind and mankind only exists because of random processes that somehow evolved mankind into existence, than who cares what happens to other people?

They aren’t made in the image of God, they just happened into existence.

As you continue in that line of thinking through Scripture as one who doubts the veracity of the creation account, you then have to question all the miraculous events that occured throughout Scripture.

If God didn’t create the heavens and the earth, then why would the plagues of Egypt be a thing?

How could you believe that God could do those sorts of things if he couldn’t create the heavens and the earth?

The miracles throughout Scripture all exist because God was able to accomplish them by utilizing his creation.

And once you start questioning God’s miraculous working throughout history, you then come to his own life.

If you can’t believe that God created the heavens and the earth, how can you believe that Jesus was born of a virgin in Bethlehem?

If you don’t believe that God created all things, how can you believe that Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life and died on the cross for your sins?

If you don’t believe that God created, how can you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead?

Once the foundation is eroded, there’s significant theological issues.

If God’s Word is completely breathed out by God then God’s Word must be inerrant, without error.

That’s a logic issue.

If God’s Word was written down by men who were directed to do so by the Holy Spirit, then logically, all words in Scripture are God’s Words.

And if you believe that God is only ever good and that God is only ever truthful, then his Word has to be truthful as well.

If the Word of God isn’t true, then that makes God a liar.

And if God is a liar, why would you worship him?

If God was a liar, he wouldn’t be any better than Satan.