SERMON OUTLINE:
Personal Praise (vs 1-3)
Powerful Protection (vs 4-10)
Petition Praise (vs 11-14)
Persuaded Providence (vs 15-20)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• In 1666, disaster struck St. Paul's Cathedral,
• When a devastating fire swept through London,
• And destroyed the building.
• Britain turned to Sir Christopher Wren,
• One of its most famous architects,
• And commissioned him to design a new cathedral.
• Wren's plans for the new St. Paul's Cathedral were ambitious,
• He aimed to create a masterpiece,
• That would rival the great cathedrals of Europe.
• He incorporated many innovative features into his design,
• Including a large dome that would become,
• One of the most recognizable features of the London skyline.
Wren's vision became reality in 1710,
• When the new St. Paul's Cathedral was finished.
• It took him thirty-five long years to complete this task,
• And when it was done,
• He waited breathlessly for the reaction of the Queen.
• After being carefully shown through the structure,
• Queen Anne summed up her feelings for the architecture,
• In three words.
• Quote: Queen Anne.: “It is awful; it is amusing; it is artificial.”
• You might have expected Sir Christopher Wren,
• To be heart-broken and depressed by those words,
• But he wasn’t!
The reason being language has changed down the years:
• In 1710 the word awful meant “awe-inspiring,”
• The word amusing meant “amazing,”
• The word artificial meant “artistic.”
• What to our ears might sound like devastating criticism,
• “It awful; it is amusing; it is artificial.”
• Was in that time, words of measured praise.
• “Awe-inspiring, amazing, & artistic.”
• TRANSITION: In this Psalm #9
• We have some ancient words,
• And these words have lost none of their meaning!
INTRODUCTION: Two things to note:
First:
• If you were to ask most people what a Psalm is.
• They would probably say; ‘A hymn of praise’.
• And that would be a good answer.
• And yet none of the previous Psalms (#1-8):
• Contain much praise,
• None are what we might call purely hymns of praise.
• Such as we find towards the end of the book i.e. Psalm 150.
• The closet that comes to praise is Psalm 8:
• But even that Psalm was mainly,
• A celebration of man’s place in the created universe.
Note:
• Psalm 9:
• Is the first Psalm that is chiefly a song of pure praise.
• i.e. Verses 1-12: Contains praise for past deliverance.
• i.e. Verses 13-20: Contains prayer for future deliverance.
• David, the Psalmist,
• Is so confident is his prayers will be answered,
• That his requests almost seem to also be praise.
Second:
• In the Greek and Latin versions of the Bible.
• And in Roman Catholic tradition,
• Psalms 9 & 10 are joined as one Psalm.
• Most English Bibles and in the Protestant tradition.
• These two psalms are separated.
Ill:
• The reason they are joined together by some scholars,
• Is that together, they almost…but not quite,
• Form an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet.
• I say almost, because three Hebrew letters are missing,
• Which for me spoil that idea,
• And also, two letters are reversed, so, it doesn’t quite fit.
• TRANSITION:
• At some stage, the compilers of the book of Psalms,
• Must have decided,
• That a better division than the acrostic idea.
• Was to divide it by content.
• The first (#9) being a psalm of praise,
• The second (#10) being a lament.
(1). Personal praise (vs 1-3).
“I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
3 My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you”.
Note:
• A well-known English idiom is,
• ‘Give yourself a good talking to.’
• Idea is to psych yourself up, put yourself in a positive mind.
• Well, the Psalmist does that here.
• Notice that verses 1-2,
• David the psalmist uses the expression “I will” four times.
• He is commanding himself to do four things.
• i.e. Verse 1a: “I will give thanks.”
• i.e. Verse 1b: “I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”
• i.e. Verse 2a: “I will be glad and rejoice in you.”
• i.e. Verse 2b: “I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.”
• And the reason for his fourfold praise is found in verse 3:
• He has seen his enemies turn away in retreat,
• And they are overthrown and defeated!
Notice: David uses a special name for God in verse 2:
• David extols God as the highest!
• He is “Most High” – Hebrew: ‘Elyon’.
Ill:
• I have a recording of Gladys Aylward,
• (the British missionary to China),
• Who in China during WWII,
• Led 100 orphaned children over 100 miles to safety.
• She quotes a verse from her Chinese Bible.
• Malachi chapter 3 verse 10,
• In English the name of God is translated as, 'Lord Almighty.'
• In her Chinese Bible it reads when translated to English,
"The Great, over and above all one,
Jehovah, who controls the hosts."
• TRANSITION:
• That memory came back to me when I read these verses.
• When other nations/peoples are involved.
• The Bible often refers to God with the title ‘Most High’.
• (i.e. Gen 14:20, Num 24:16, Dan 4:24)
• i.e. "The Great, over and above all one,”
• Thew other nations had their gods,
• Who they worshipped and proclaimed,
• But David recognised that the God of Israel is ‘Elyon,’
• He is the “Most High.” Or “over and above all.”
• To paraphrase David’s words,
• ‘Compared to other gods our God is out of this world!”
• And that is why this God is able to bring about the victory,
• And that is why this God is to be praised!
(2). Powerful Protection (vs 4-10):
“For you have upheld my right and my cause,
sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked.
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6 Endless ruins have overtaken my enemies,
you have uprooted their cities.
even the memory of them has perished.
7 The Lord reigns forever.
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness.
and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”.
• In this section David once again offers his praise to God.
• For delivering him and his army,
• From the enemy nations that attacked Israel
• Notice the repetition.
• Four times in verses 4-6 David uses the expression “You have,”
• i.e. vs 4: “For you have upheld my right and my cause”.
• i.e. vs 5a: “You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;”
• i.e. vs 5a: “you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.”
• i.e. vs 6: “You have uprooted their cities”.
• David is looking back,
• And thanking God for all his divine help and protection.
Ill:
• There are over 180 castles in the United Kingdom.
• (with Warwick in my opinion being the best of them!).
• Back then, they offered great security against the enemy.
• But something happened!
• And today these castles are no longer places of protection,
• Today, they are places of historic interest, tourist attractions.
• Question: What happened?
• Answer: Someone invented the cannon,
• And when the cannon came in, the castles went out.
• In this section,
• David rejoices that God is his powerful protector.
• And no-one and nothing will ever supersede him!
• He will never be out of date or replaced!
(Verses 9-10):
“The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you”.
Notice: In verse 9 there is a change of focus:
• We move away from the battlefield,
• And the defeat of his enemies.
• And the focus is on the people of the land,
• His own nation Israel,
• In fact, he is very focused on a particular section of people.
• Look at how he describes them:
• Verse 9a: The “oppressed”.
• Verse 9b: The “troubled”.
• Verse 12: The “afflicted”.
• Verse 18: The “needy & poor”.
• Verse 10: May suggest,
• That these oppressed, troubled, afflicted and needy people,
• Are treated this way,
• Because they are faithful followers of the Lord.
“Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you”.
• These faithful followers of the Lord.
• Have been persecuted and exploited by godless unbelievers.
• But they have discovered a refuge in God.
• ill: He is their fortress; he is their place of protection.
(3). Petition to Praise (vs 11-12)
“Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion.
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
12 For he who avenges blood remembers.
he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.”
• So far in the Psalm,
• David has privately praised the Lord on his own.
• But now in these verses,
• He invites others to Praise the Lord with him.
• Again, he gives us the reason for praising God.
• Our God is depicted as the champion of the people of God.
• And even though God’s people are depicted as weak,
• And afflicted, a persecuted people.
• He reminds us in these verses,
• That God will hold accountable,
• Those who have shed their blood.
• Therefore, in response to this proclamation,
• The people of God are to “sing praises to the Lord.”
Notice:
• How David once again links singing and proclaiming,
• He has already done it in verses 1 and 2.
• And now he does it again in verse 11.
Quote: C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892):
“Singing and preaching, as a means of glorifying God, are here joined together,
And it is remarkable that, connected with all revivals of Gospel ministry,
There has been a sudden outburst of the spirit of song.
Luther’s songs and hymns were in all men’s mouths,
And in the [Methodist] revival under Wesley and Whitefield,
The strains of Charles Wesley, Cennick, Berridge, Toplady, Hart, Newton,
And many others, were the outgrowth of restored piety”.
Spurgeon concludes:
“Sing on brethren, and preach on,
And these shall both be a token.
that the Lord still dwelleth in Zion”.
Notice: in vs 13-14 there is a plea, a petition for relocation:
“LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and there rejoice in your salvation.”
• David is pleading with God,
• For him to rescue him from his situation.
• He says the intensity of his suffering is comparable to death.
• And he obviously doesn’t want to remain there!
Notice: He mentions two types of gates:
• The first set of gates (vs 13) are associated with death,
• The second set of gates (vs 14) are associated with the living,
• He calls them ‘the gates of the daughter of Zion.’
• The phrase ‘Daughter of Zion,’
• Is a metaphor for God’s people,
• Or a metaphor for Jerusalem, the city of God.
• David longs to be removed from one gate,
• And be relocated to the other,
• Because he longs to rejoice before the Lord.
Quote: The New Living Bible paraphrases these 2 verses like this:
“LORD, have mercy on me.
See how my enemies torment me.
Snatch me back from the jaws of death.
14 Save me so I can praise you publicly at Jerusalem’s gates,
so I can rejoice that you have rescued me.”
(4). Persuaded Providence (vs 15-20)
“The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
16 The LORD is known by his acts of justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
all the nations that forget God.
18 But God will never forget the needy;
the hope of the afflicted will never perish.
19 Arise, LORD, do not let mortal’s triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
20 Strike them with terror, LORD;
let the nations know they are only mortal.”
Ill:
• The American painter, John Sargent,
• Once painted a panel of roses,
• That was highly praised by critics.
• It was a small picture, but it appeared almost perfect.
• On many occasions,
• He was offered a high price to sell it, but he refused it.
• He considered it his best work and was very proud of it.
• The main reason he refused to sell it was,
• Whenever he was deeply discouraged,
• Whenever he doubted his abilities as an artist,
• He would look at it and remind himself, “I painted that.”
• Then his confidence and ability would come back to him.
• TRANSITION:
• David finishes this Psalm,
• By demonstrating his confident trust in the Lord:
• He is confident of God’s character,
(a).
• He is a God of justice (vs 16).
• Therefore, God will judge the wicked!
• David is confident that God will destroy the wicked,
• Those who afflict the needy.
(b).
• He is a God of faithfulness (vs 18).
• He is confident,
• That God will not forget his own people.
• They hope in him and therefore they will prevail.
Note:
• The psalm closes again with a contrast.
• The frailty of mankind and the power of God.
• Verse 20:
“Strike them with terror, LORD;
let the nations know they are only mortal.”
Ill:
• You only really appreciate heat,
• If you know what it is to be cold.
• You only really appreciate light,
• If you know what it is to be in darkness.
• You only really appreciate friendship,
• If you know what it is to be lonely.
• You only really appreciate being full,
• If you know what it is to be hungry
• TRANSITION:
• I think that idea of contrast,
• Is what David is getting at in this last verse.
• He is saying that for men and women,
• To really see & appreciate who God is,
• They must first realize,
• Their own human weakness and helplessness.
• They are, ‘mortal,’ and he is…
"The Great, over and above all one,
Jehovah, who controls the hosts of heaven."
• People need to realise that God is the creator, King.
• The just and faithful God,
"The Great, over and above all one,
Jehovah, who controls the hosts."
• And in comparison, that they are but mere men,
• Who are weak and human.
And finally…
The Psalm reveals to us four ways to worship God.
• FIRST: THANK God (vs 1a).
• “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart.”
• We acknowledge God for what he has done.
• SECOND: TELL Others About God (vs 1b).
• “I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”
• We declare his praise to all and sundry.
• THIRD: Be HAPPY in God (v 2a).
• “I will be glad and rejoice in you.”
• What is the chief end of man?
• Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
• FOURTH: SING to God.
• “I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.”
• Our singing is to be VERTICAL.
• We are singing to the Lord.
• Singing to the Lord is a prayer; singing to the Lord is worship.
