Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good Morning Redemption Church.

It is good to see you all this morning.

I love seeing our people gather together.

I love the fellowship that takes place in our service.

This truly is a church where our people love one another with the affections of Christ Jesus.

If you are new to Redemption Church or are watching online for the first time, my name is Noah Toney, and I am the pastor here.

Here at Redemption Church, we exist to proclaim the gospel and make disciples for the Glory of God.

That is our vision statement, and that is what we are all about.

Today we will be looking at our last Psalm of the summer.

This summer our church has been in a sermon series called “Summer in the Psalms.”

My plan is to every summer return to the Psalter and preach 10 psalms a summer.

Today we are ending our series on the ninth psalm.

That might sound weird to you, and I agree it is but we have good reason.

Allow me to recap to you what we have learned this summer, so that you might see the complete picture.

We started our journey with a sermon about the structure of the Psalms.

I took one whole sermon and just went though how the five books of the psalter fit together.

This is not a random collection of poems but this is an intentionally arranged group of poetry that tell the story of God’s people.

We looked at Psalm one and two that serves as the introduction to the Psalter, everything after it will look back to Psalm one and Psalm two.

Psalm One teaches us about the blessed man who is the perfect citizen of God's kingdom, who walks in the way of the righteous and turns from the way of the wicked.

Psalm Two teaches us about God's Messiah-King, who will reign forever despite the raging nations.

Psalm Three teaches us about God's chosen king, David, who, when the nations are raging against him, responds in faith and trust in God.

Psalm Four teaches us that when God's people are in distress, we should reflect on God's past faithfulness to find future hope.

Psalm Five teaches us that God's people can find comfort in the character of God.

Psalm Six teaches us that God's people will experience anguish and despair, yet we find our hope in God's steadfast love.

Psalm seven teaches us that God is the righteous avenger and the Righteous defender.

Psalm eight teaches us that God chooses to use the weak things of the world to defeat his enemies and establish his glory.

This week’s sermon in a sentence: “If God has saved us in the past, he is faithful to save us in the future.”

Scripture Reading

Psalm 9:1-20

TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO MUTH-LABBEN.

A PSALM OF DAVID.

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence.

For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever.

The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins; their cities you rooted out; the very memory of them has perished.

But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.

The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds!

For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

Be gracious to me, O LORD! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation.

The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.

The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.

Higgaion.

Selah The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you!

Put them in fear, O LORD! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

Pastoral Prayer

Psalms three though nine, are one literarily unit that tells chronicles the story of David as his son has lead a revolt against him.

Psalms three started with the superscription “ A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his Son.”

This is bracketed by Psalm nine, where our superscpriction today reads, “To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben.

A Psalm of David.”

Your english bible says this weird thing “Muth-Labben,” what does this have to do with Absalom?

For much of church history this has been translated.

Muth- means dead or death.

Labben- means to or for the son.

In fact if you need more proof of this, most KJV have already translated this for us, as well as many other versions of the bible.

Psalm nine also stands out because this is the first Psalm of thanksgiving in the Psalter.

It is like ever since Psalms three David has been in the wilderness and all of his enemies have been around him.

His friends have been trying to kill him, his son has been trying to kill him.

His own people have been whispering and conspiring against him.

Psalms three though nine has been an emotional rollercoaster.

David has praised God, he has cried out to God, he has looked at God for vengeance, he has looked at God for mercy, he has wet his bed with tears and his bones have been shaken.

Then we have seen David as confidant in God extolling God’s goodness and mercy.

Now we come to the end of the story.

Let’s jump in.

Verses 1-2 Thankfulness comes from the record

“I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.”

David starts this Psalms with an interjection of Praise.

This is diffrent from everything that we have seen thus far.

This is special.

Every Psalm from Psalms three onward that we have looked at thus far has started by calling on the name of YHWH.

Psalm 3:1 “O Lord, how many are my foes!

Many are rising against me;” Psalm 4:1 “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

You have given me relief when I was in distress.

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!”

Psalm 5:1 “Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning.”

Psalm 6:1 “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.”

Psalm 7:1 “O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,” Psalm 8:1 “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.”

From Psalm 3-8 David is calling on God to save him, but it looks like in Psalm nine David is not calling out to God asking him to save him, but he is sending thanksgiving to God because God has saved him.

David starts immediately with a posture of praise.

That is why this is often noted as the first Psalm of thanksgiving in the bible.

David says, “I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.”

This word recount, is a very intriguing word, it is the word for book, or scroll but it is used as a verb form of the word.

So if i took some liberty to translate it, you could read this “I will book/scroll your wonderful deeds.”

The idea is that David is going to record and write down the wonderful things that God has done for three reasons.

First, so that David does not forget.

How quickly do we forget the wonderful things that God has done for us?

How often are you and I like the nation of Israel who comes out slavery and as soon as we encounter an obstacle we say “Oh God take us back to slavery, why have you lead us into the wilderness to die.”

We are prone to forget the good things of God as soon as things get tough, we need the bible as a constant reminder that we are pilgrims on a better journey to a better county.

Second, David wants to recount God’s wonderful deeds to encourage him in latter days.

This is what the bible is for us.

It is a history, so that we do not forget, but it also is to encourage us.

It is true that if you are not in a storm than one you are about to be in one.