Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction
Many times upon the Gospel being presented or shared sometimes the idea that when you come to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation your life will now be problem free.
You got problems in your life or your life is filled with trouble well come to Jesus and that will be fixed and your problems will go away and any problems that remain are because of your lack of faith.
This doesn’t jive with scripture and it doesnt jive with what Jesus Himself said.
Now to be clear Jesus is the solution - but He never promised to give us a carefree problem free life.
Lets see what Jesus did promise.
Look at the two ends of what Jesus said “in Me you may have peace.”
and “I have conquered the world” Those are the bookends that surround the marching orders or the reality of what our life will be like.
“You will have suffering in the world - BE COURAGEOUS”
In Christ we will have peace - in the world we will have suffering.
It is not Our Best Life Now, nor is it Everyday Friday.
We will have trials and tribulation and suffering as we walk in this world.
The encouragement is that we must continue in the faith and that these things are necessary to enter the kingdom of God.
Jesus has overcome and through Him we have overcome and we will one day inherit the kingdom, but the time is not yet.
It is coming but not yet.
We must continue in the faith in the midst of the trials and troubles.
Faith over fear - lets read Psalm 11-12 and see what we can learn from David about how to walk in faith and not fear.
Choose
Historical setting of this Psalm is unknown.
David finds himself in what seems to be a desperate situation with his life in danger.
The temptation to flee from danger challenges His confidence in God.
Perhaps David was receiving advice from another person or perhaps like me and possibly many of you it was the inner voice speaking to him.
This voice was saying look at the danger escape - flee, runaway from the troubles.
Sometimes that voice that speaks and says this is too much, too hard, too dangerous - the best thing is to leave, to quit, and to run away and stay safe.
The best thing to do with voices like that - is you must make a choice - you have to choose.
David chose to respond in faith.
David said I HAVE taken refuge in the Lord.
This is willful of his own volition choosing to take refuge in the Lord.
To trust His safety and shelter to the Lord.
This begs the question - who or what are we putting our trust in?
To choose what we will put our trust in is not a one time deal - it is moment by moment - one trial or trouble to the next.
It is also necessary to point out it is not about how much trust we put in - but how trustworthy is what we are trusting in.
Great faith is only of value when we put our faith in something worthy of our faith.
David has chosen to trust in the Lord and He repudiates the temptation, the suggestion and the very thought of fleeing to the mountains.
Fight or flight is our body’s natural response when faced with difficult situations.
Why flee when you can trust?
The choice to flee defies faith in God.
The wicked string bows and put arrows on the bowstrings to shoot from shadows at the upright in heart.
The voice then says the wicked are actively attacking the upright.
The story of all humanity is that the wicked attack the upright - the righteous.
The first murder committed was against Abel who was righteous.
The bows and arrows say physical attack but bows and arrows are used also to speak of verbal slanderous attacks as well.
The war that has been raging through the ages of the wicked and the righteous - good vs evil.
It is a spiritual war and will is being fought.
The question is have you entered the fight?
Are we engaged in the war or are we content to sit on the side and complain about how the war is going?
They shoot from the shadows - perhaps manipulating the circumstances trying to increase the fear.
You cant see the attacks and they attack from cover and you cant see the attack.
It is a terrible thing to fear that which we cannot even see.
Sometimes we walk in fear because it seems the very foundations are destroyed - the foundation of society, the foundation of good overcoming evil, the foundation that evil does not prosper.
The best thing to do is escape because criminals have the upper hand, they are armed and ready to come after lawful and righteous people.
Law and order have vanished and the very foundations of society are crumbling.
What can the righteous do?
In the face of such evil and wickedness and such trouble and calamity what can the righteous do?
Do not choose to escape from problems and troubles but rather choose to take refuge in the Lord.
What the righteous can do is choose engage rather than escape the war
Change
After making his choice to walk in faith and take refuge in the Lord David then changed his perspective.
Instead of looking at what was happening around him horizontally he looked up to view things vertically.
David starts off the Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord His throne is in heaven and both these statements have the connotation of STILL.
No matter what has happened, no matter what anyone says or believes God is still in His holy temple and His throne is still in heaven.
God has not gone anywhere and definitely has not vacated His throne.
His eyes watch and His gaze examines everyone.
David decided to contrast his problem on earth with the high and lifted position of the Lord God in heaven.
The fearful ask what can the righteous one do?
David says the righteous can change their point of view - their perspective of the problem from earthly to heavenly and trust in the real source of government.
Our earthly governments will fail and society along with it but the Lord’s throne is exalted in the heavens.
We change our perspective when we spend time with the Lord.
When we spend time with our problem then our problem blocks our view of God, but when we pray and focus on God our problems melt from view and our faith assures our hearts.
A true perspective of things is that nothing is out of God’s control for He is the one who is sovereign over all.
David gives another answer for what the righteous can change their view on.
The righteous can view their troubles and trials as testing.
David says the Lord examines the righteous.
The word examine can be translated as tests or refine.
A loving God is testing and you know you will not be pushed too far or forsaken.
The Lord examines everyone - the righteous to test them and refine them but not the wicked.
He hates them and they will have judgment upon them.
Scorching wind will be their cup.
Unrepentant will suffer terrible judgment
Call
David now in faith calls on the Lord.
Bemoaning the absence of the faithful and loyal among mankind.
The culture is steeped in deception and lies.
They lie to one another continuously and carrying on with speaking with flattering lips and all the while deception is in their hearts.
Can you imagine being in this culture and society that David is describing?
There are so many who speak callously and deceptively?
Such that you cannot trust what you are hearing the truth is being suppressed in order for the “official narrative” to be spoken.
Perhaps once dignified and honored positions of great authority voice and power now corrupt and the people no longer can trust those in position.
What if those who shared the truth were called radical, conspiracy theorists and were being silenced, cancelled, and other wise discredited?
It would seem like the wicked are only left and the righteous are dwindling.
The voice once had is no longer heard.
If you found yourself surrounded by those who repudiate truth - doesnt matter what truth all truth for the sake of say feelings.
All of society corrupted untrustworthy.
What could the righteous do?
Who would you call out to for help?
They are guilty of lies and deception - blatant outright lies and even the “harmless” white lies, half truths exaggerations and broken promises.
Guilty of flattery - insincere complimenting.
Flattery is not praise - flattery differs from praise because flattery ascribes virtues foreign to a person for the sake of manipulation for a sinister selfish motive.
deceptive hearts - the original language says “a heart and a heart” - they are double hearted.
“A heart for church and a heart for the change; one for Sundays, another for working days; one for the king, another for the pope.
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