Sermon Tone Analysis

This is the last week in our Psummer in the Psalms series, and we’ll be studying Psalm 35.

It’s no secret that I love the book of Psalms.

If I could only preach one book, I might pick Psalms for the sheer breadth of content and how it touches the heart and the mind of the reader.

But alas, summer is nearing an end and we need to venture into new territory.

Next week, I will start to preach through Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica.

But for today, we get to look at one last psalm—and this one is really fun (in its own way).

Psalm 35 is classified as an imprecatory psalm.

“Imprecatory” means to invoke evil upon or curse.

And this is what Psalm 35 is doing.

Psalm 35, along with 15-20 other psalms, are considered imprecatory—that is, psalms which invoke evil upon one’s enemies or call down curses on the enemies of God.

These are among my favorite psalms for one good reason: these imprecatory psalms show the range of emotions the LORD’s people are allowed to take to Him.

For instance, the psalmist prays this in another imprecatory psalm:

Psalm 58:6–8 “Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions!

Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.

May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along...”

Yikes!

That’s some strong emotion and some strong feeling—and it’s right here in the Bible!

This is the inspired Word of God for the people of God.

These imprecatory psalms—along with all the other psalms, and the other 65 books of the Bible—are inspired and God-breathed.

They are to guide our worship, our praise and our prayers to our Holy Heavenly Father.

Don’t act on all your emotions—for heaven’s sake, that’d be a nightmare.

Don’t act on all your emotions; DO, however, take all your emotions to the LORD.

Psalm 35 is going to help us grow in our relationship with the LORD.

Psalm 35 is going to be our tutor.

Psalm 35 will teach us how to pray, how to praise, how to live as His people in this dark world.

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Psalm 35.

It going to take a few minutes to read, so only if you’re able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word:

May the LORD God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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The psalms are instructive in any number of ways, but never simply instructive.

It shouldn’t ever be mere information-transfer.

Rather, the psalms are a glimpse into the heart of a worshipper.

And for us, all these years after the psalm being written, there is a sense of unity with our brothers and sisters who have read these words; those who sang these stanzas; those who have prayed these paragraphs.

In Psalm 35, we are given some important guidance where walking with the LORD is concerned.

We’re going to be bouncing around the psalm a little this morning, but we need to see how this psalm is arranged.

David’s thoughts don’t follow a nice sermon-style outline; remember, this is a song, a prayer.

It’s poetry.

David’s praying/singing/reflecting on what he’s facing, but three times inserts praise.

Verses 9-10, verse 18, and verse 28.

So, whatever else this psalm is, it’s anchored with praise—albeit imprecatory praise.

We must let this psalm—and the balance of God’s Word—guide our praise.

Here I think is the teaching and guidance of Psalm 35.

It’s teaching us to:

Think True Thoughts about God…and Give Him Praise

The Bible—God’s Word—has multiple purposes.

Its work is far wider and deeper than we might realize.

It cuts to the quick.

It divides bone and marrow.

It corrects and rebukes.

It’s purpose is, much of the time, to help us thinking rightly and properly about God.

If we’re honest, there are a lot of unbiblical takes about a lot of topics, including a lot of bad and unbiblical takes about God Himself.

Blaise Pascal (or Mark Twain or Voltaire or Rousseau) wrote: "God created man in His own image, and man, being a gentleman, returned the favor."

We would very much like to make God out to be less than He is.

We want Him to do our bidding.

We’d like to have Him in our pocket so He’s nice and convenient when we need Him to do something for us and then we can just put Him away.

We want Him as a buddy who approves of everything we do and doesn’t correct us or challenge us when we’re wrong.

But the psalmist, indeed the entirety of the Bible, would have us think rightly about God; think true thoughts about Him.

In his book, “The Knowledge of the Holy,” A.W. Tozer writes

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us… the most significant fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.

We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.

This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church.

Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech.”

It is absolutely imperative that we think true thoughts about God.

Here in Psalm 35, David, in the middle of whatever it is he’s going through, thinks true thoughts about the LORD Yahweh and looks to the True and Only God.

It’s how he starts his psalm, asking the LORD to contend with him and fight for him.

In some pretty descriptive language, David pictures the LORD as a warrior:

Psalm 35:2-3 “Take up shield and armor; arise and come to my aid.

Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me…”

David is thinking about the LORD as He actually is.

The LORD is a warrior, One who fights for His people.

He is the One who decimates the enemy, who hurls horse and driver into the heart of the sea.

The LORD is no namby-pamby deity.

He’s not weak or effeminate.

He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

He is a warrior.

Same goes for Jesus.

He wasn’t some beauty pageant contestant with a nice blue sash and blond, wavy hair.

He had the hands of a carpenter and spoke with authority—authority that amazed even His critics; authority that made rough and tumble longshoremen drop what they were doing when Jesus pointed at them and said, “You, follow me.”

The LORD God is a warrior.

He is strong and mighty, and mighty to save.

David prays to the LORD and asks for the LORD to reassure him: “Say to me, ‘I am your salvation.’”

The One who can and does save issues the assurance we need.

When we look to Him, when we open His book, we are looking toward and listening to the One who speaks to us saying, “I am your salvation.”

Throughout the psalm, David is thinking true thoughts about the LORD—who He is and how He fights for His children.

He is the One who rescues: Psalm 35:17 “How long, Lord, will you look on?

Rescue me from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.”

He is the One who sees and who comes to David’s defense: Psalm 35:22-24 “Lord, you have seen this; do not be silent.

Do not be far from me, Lord.

Awake, and rise to my defense!

Contend for me, my God and Lord.

Vindicate me in your righteousness, Lord my God; do not let them gloat over me.”

The LORD fights.

He defends.

He comes and takes up sword and spear, enters into the fray, and is victorious.

There are a lot of good and true thoughts about the LORD; these are only a few that David focuses on here.

David thinks true thoughts about the LORD…and gives Him praise:

This is who the LORD is.

When we think rightly, properly, Biblically about the LORD it will lead us to praise—I guarantee it.

What is, for me, the most striking part of this psalm is what I spoke about earlier: its classification as an imprecatory psalm.

This teaches us to:

Be Brutally Honest with God…and Give Him Praise