Preached on 7 November 2004
at Mainne Street Baptist Church
Brunswick, Maine
[v.1] I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
[v.2] O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
[v.3] O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
[v.4] Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
[v.5] For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
- Prayer
- Thanksgiving
- Acknowledgements
Text:
[v.5] For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Subject: God’s Great Joy
- Have you ever felt like giving up ... throwing in the towel?
- Have you ever felt like every time you turn around ... something else is broke, or late, or something is wrong with something or somebody in your life?
- Have you ever laid in the bed at night and your problems have gotten so bad that it even seems like the darkness of the night has even turned its back on you.
- So, you lie awake in bed scared to go to sleep -- wondering will the night ever end.
Well if this is you ... then I want to talk to you this morning about an unspeakable joy that the world didn’t give you and the world can’t take away ... I want to talk to you this morning about God’s Great Joy.
I want to give you 3 WAYS that you can have joy in the midst of your night season.
I. Look Back Over Your Life
Let us examine our text...
[v.1] I will extol [to lift up; to glorify on purpose “intensive” or “intentional” action] thee, O Lord; [why] for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
You know ... sometimes I sit and think that if I could just stop for a moment. No matter what’s going on, no matter what I’m going through ... no matter how dark the night may seem ... if I could just sit back and think about what God has already done for me. I would have nothing to be sad about.
Well ... I’m a firm believer that if we can just look back over our life. We too could be like David and have a whole lot to be excited about. Because He has lifted us up out of some circumstances, and up out of some situations ... some situation that we had no business getting ourselves in to. Nevertheless, He delivered us and brought us through.
Watch this...
We see David in our text taking a trip back down memory lane. Reflecting on just how good God had been to him.
You see ... David had great reason to praise God. And I want to give you 5 SUB-POINTS OR REASON why David praised God and why he reminds us to do so today:
Reasons:
# 1 [v.1] God had lifted him up. Notice the past tense ... David is thanking God for what He has already done
# 2 [v.1] God had not allowed his enemies to triumph over him
# 3 [v.2] God healed his body
# 4 [v.3] God saved his soul
# 5 [v.3] God keep him alive and delivered him from certain defeats in battle
This particular Psalm of Thanksgiving is for the great deliverance that God had worked out in David’s life.
Most of you with study Bible will notice that your captions/headings in your Bible probably states that David wrote this Psalm at the time of the dedication of his house ... though there is nothing in this Psalm that has particular reference to that occasion.
Well, I’m under the persuasion that David did pen this Psalm during that dedication but it was in direct response to God restoring his health after a three-day plague God put on him because of his sin of number the people.
I think that we need to stick a pen right here ... and deal with one of the problems that cause the night seasons in our life – and that problem is SIN.
Well ... how did David Sin. Write this scripture in your margins
1 Chronicles 21:1-30 (turn there)
[v.1] And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
[v.2] And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.
Watch this ... sin has consequences
[v.7] And God was displeased with this thing; therefore, he smote Israel.
You see ... when you do like David and get in the "ME" and "I" business and think that your sin doesn’t affect / effect anybody else ... well, [v.7] paints a different picture.
[v.8] And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee; do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
- Well the "I’s" have it.
- Notice ... just in what we have read alone, we can count 5 "I’s" and 1 "ME". The "I" and the "Me" are the same they both equal selfishness and pride.
- The point that I want you to understand is that
5+1=6. Six is the number of man.
David sinned because; he did the man thing, and leaned on his own understanding and decided to do things his way ... instead of relying on God. He was more concerned with the number of his men, than the power of God. When man wants to do things his way it results in sin ... and sin has consequences.
Watch the consequences...
[v.9] And the Lord spake unto Gad, David’s seer, saying,
[v.10] Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
[v.11] So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee
[v.12] Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
[v.13] And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.
[v.14] So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
You see brothers and sisters – sin has consequences.
I didn’t coin the phrase but I heard someone say that sin ... takes you further than you ever intended to go; keeps you longer than you ever intended to be kept; and cost you more than you ever intended to pay.
So reading 1 Chronicles 21 we see the correlation between the events that happened here with our text. That is why I believe that this event is what prompted David to sing the song of Thanksgiving in out text.
- Flip back if you will to Psalm 30
[v.2-3]
Now I can’t help but to think that David also took a trip back down memory lane and probably thought about how God had given him the strength when he was a little boy to kill a lion and a bear that trouble his flock [1 Sam 17:34-37].
I’m sure David thought from time to time, about how God had given him the victory over Goliath ... with one smooth rock.
1 Sam 17:50 tells us how God gave him victory over the Philistines and his other enemies.
I can’t help but to think that while penning this Psalm of thanksgiving for his house ... that David thought back on the many days and nights that he spent hiding in caves and sleeping in the wilderness as he ran for his life from Saul and how God brought him through it all.
Yes ... David had great reason to praise God!
Well... what about you?
Look back over your life and see how God has delivered you over and over again.
I just want everybody to do one thing for me ... just turn your head around and look behind you ... just for about three seconds and look for that moment, that day, that hour that you can remember just where God has brought you from.
You see ... when I look back over my life I got sense enough to recognize that I didn’t get here all by myself.
- I recognize that God did for me what I could not do for myself.
- I shouldn’t be here
- I should not have got another chance
- A whole lot of folks love me ... but they couldn’t help me ... they couldn’t do nothing for me
- I recognize that although I’m not where I going to be ... thanks be to God, I’m not where I use to be either.
I’m reminded of a story ... of an Indian who was in the middle of the road one afternoon praising and glorying God. This Pilgrim walked along and asked ... Mr. Indian why are you praising the Lord, what has He done for you.
The Indian didn’t say a word ... he just knelt down and started to dig a trench; then he looked and saw a worm and he picked up the worm and dropped him in the middle of the trench.
Then he went a got some flammable liquid; then he struck a match and lit the fluid on one side and he did the same on the other side.
And there is this little worm in this trench, unable to help himself, surrounded by death and doom. You see ... the worm couldn’t go nowhere, he couldn’t go forward, and he couldn’t go backwards, he was trapped in the middle of the flames.
Then just when the flames were about to consume him ... just when he was about to die. The Indian knelt down, scoped him up... and saved him.
Then he looked at the pilgrim with tears streaming down his face and he said ...
THIS ... IS WHAT ME GOD ...DONE FOR ME.
You see ... that is what GOD has done for me. You see, I was that little worm. I wasn’t fit to live and was to scared to die. Then just in a nick of time ... God reached down and saved my soul.
So, don’t look at me funny when I cry sometimes ... Don’t think that I’m crazy when I talk about His goodness and mercy.
You see when I look back over my life ... I get excited because He’s been so good to me. So good that I just can’t tell it all. God been so good to me.
Somebody may be saying ... well it doesn’t take all of that ...
Well ... if my praising God offends you ... then you need to go where I’ve already been. Then you need know and feel what I’ve already known and felt.
As I look back over my life, it does me good to remember the times when surely God was working to protect me.
II. The second way that you can have joy in
the midst of your darkness is
- REMEMBER AND GIVE THANKS
[v.4] Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
So, we need to look back over our life ... (PAST) – then we need to remember and give thanks (PRESENT)
We see here in [v.4] two commands to praise God
# 1 Sing &
# 2 Give thanks
What I found interesting is the fact that David had to command them to do it.
You know ... something’s should just be understood. In fact, you would be surprised at the number of people on this earth who don’t know their purpose of being here.
- Yes ... it is good that you are rich
- It is good that you are educated
- It is good that you got houses and land
- Everything that you have desired to attain in your life you have ... that’s good.
But let me help you ... you see, that is not your purpose of being here.
You were created by GOD, for God ... and your purpose, if you chose to accept it is to praise and glory His name (cf. Psalm 135]
Maybe we have these two commands here because God knew that we would need to be reminded to sing and praise Him.
Maybe He knew ... of course God is omniscience (knows all things) maybe we have these commands here because He know that our songs would someday be sizzled in apathy and our praise to Him would be paralyzed by pride.
Christians should be the most joyous people on the face of the earth. Why ... because I read the story and I know how it ends. I hate to spoil it for you, but for those of you in despair ... we get the victory. All we have to do is (1) look back over our life, (2) remember what God has done for us, and give Him the praise.
Again, we see here in [v.4] two commands to praise God: Sing and Give thanks
Some of you may be able to relate to just what David is talking about here.
You’ve been near death in the hospital or with an illness. You’ve come close in some other accident, yet through it all God has delivered you out of the pit of pain
Maybe your deliverance has nothing to do with your physical well-being.
Well let me help you ... you see some of us have gotten so trip up by prosperity, so much so that we have forgot from whence God has brought us from.
You see ... the pride of prosperity has caused us to zip up our lips. Now we are too cute to praise God. Too many clothes in our closets have caused us to cancel our handclaps of praise.
The abundance of food in our cupboard has satisfied our hunger and thirst for righteousness.
So this doesn’t happen to us ...Allow me to help you remember His goodness so that you too can praise Him...
- Remember when you were flat broke and didn’t know where the next meal was going to come from? God can!
- Remember when you couldn’t pay your bills and God brought you through?
- Remember when you didn’t have two dimes to rub together. To buy your family a loaf of bread.
- Remember when you were lying on your back in that hospital room sick and didn’t think that you would ever get well.
- Remember when you use to have to wear hand me down clothes.
- Remember that job that you prayed for and now you want to quite.
- God has brought you through all those things and so much more!
- God has delivered some of you from failing marriages, broken childhoods, terrible past experiences.
- It was God who delivered you from those traumatic situations and now there is healing and wholeness.
- And all He wants you to do is Remember and Give Thanks. Allow me to help somebody this morning...
Some of you have even giving up on yourself ... you are clutching lies that you’ve believed for way too long.
- Somebody told you that you weren’t good enough.
- Somebody told you weren’t smart enough,
- not fast enough,
- not pretty enough.
Somebody in here this morning may have even been told that you would never measure up.
- You’re too fat,
- too short,
- too tall,
- too skinny,
- too slow, and even
- too dumb.
Maybe momma and daddy weren’t there for you ... and all your life you’ve believed that you have to look out for yourself because you can’t count on anyone to be there for you.
... Well I came to tell you that God wants to deliver you from that pit of heartache and pain.
In fact ... that’s what Jesus said He came here for.
Jot this verse down in your margins
Luke 4:18-19 -- Jesus said ...
[v.18] The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, [v.19] To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
So no matter what you are going through this morning ...don’t ever forget to praise Him and give thanks for what He has brought you through.
In fact ... take a moment and just look at yourself. Now, don’t you look good.
Somebody’s asking why praise the Lord.
Well, just look at what he has done for you. Turn to the person beside you and say...When I look at myself, I can’t help but to see what He has done for me ... that settles it ... I have to praise the Lord.
For the next couple of second I want you to look at your praise ... as if it is a bill that you owe.
- Well, what happens when you don’t pay your light bill
- What happens if you don’t pay your mortgage
Grab somebody by the hand and say ... as of today ... we are both late on our praise bills.
Point at one or two people around you and tell them ... YOU’RE LATE, YOU’RE LATE, and YOU’RE LATE
- I don’t care how cute you may look this Sunday Morning; you are late on your praise bill.
- I don’t care how much money you got, you are late on your praise bill
Shank the person hands seated beside you and ... tell them ... don’t make God have to send out a praise delinquency notice to you
- It’s time
- It’s time
- It’s time Maine Street to praise the Lord
Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31.
Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
It’s time Maine Street to praise the Lord
- He been a doctor in your sick room
- He’s been your lawyer in a courtroom
- He’s been your way out of no-way
- He’s been you your smile when you were sad
- He’s been your strength when you were weak
- He’s been you burden barrier when you couldn’t carry the load.
It’s time Maine Street for us to start praising the LORD.
III The third way that you can have joy in the midst of your darkness is
- TRUST GOD FOR THE RESULTS
So, we need to look back over our life (PAST); then we need to remember and give thanks (PRESENT); Now we need to trust God for the results (FUTURE)
David also gives us 2 sub-points reasons why we should sing and praise God
[v.5] For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
- First Reason: Gods anger is only for a moment
I can’t think of a better reason to sing and praise God. God has every right to be angry with me. O wretched man that I am!
Jot this scripture down in your margins
Psalm 103:8-22
[v.8] The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
[v.10] He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
[v.11] For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
[v.12] As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
The second reason why we should sing and praise God is
- God’s joy is on the way
[v.5] "... weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Church I want to tell you that there were three dark nights after Jesus was crucified -– but joy came in the morning!
You see ... we need to TRUST GOD FOR THE RESULTS. Isn’t that what David said?
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!
- There was crying in that upper room for a short while, but there was rejoicing on Sunday morning!
- There was doubt on Saturday night, but there was assurance on Sunday morning!
- They were perplexed when they thought about the cross, but they found the answers when they considered the empty grave!
- They were cast down all weekend, but they were lifted up when Jesus showed up – and walked through the door.
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
We might want to stick a pen right here and stay here for just one minute ... because those are some good words to preach -- Joy comes in the morning.
I want to tell you that the greatest morning there ever was ... came on a Sunday morning in a little country half-way around the world to a group of disheartened men and women who thought their lives were over.
Well let me tell you how joy started that morning ... it started with a woman who chose to get up early Sunday Morning to be with the Lord. Jot this scripture down in your margins
Mark 16:9-10
"Now when he was risen, early on the first day of the week [Sunday Morning], he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven devils. She went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept."
On that morning, Mary chose to get up early, and as she went to the tomb to see Jesus, she got more than she bargained for.
You see ... she was walking along expecting to find a dead Jesus, wrapped in grave cloths, and buried in a borrowed tomb, but she met with the risen Savior!
- She went in sorrow, but she ran back to the others full of joy!
- She walked along in despair and defeat, but she returned that morning full of hope and power for living!
Well ... some of you may be saying ... that’s such an old, and tired story
Well let me ask you something ...
- What did you get up early to find this morning?
- Did you come expecting the same old routine?
- Did you come going through the motions?
- Who did you expect to meet this morning
- Did you come expecting to meet Jesus
Well ... I want you to know that Jesus is alive! He has risen and He is here this morning and He wants to meet with you and save your sin sick soul!
- He wants to bring joy to your mourning
- Hope for your despair
- Power for your lives
- Peace for your anxiety
- Truth for your lies
- Healing for your hurting
- Rest for the weary
Weeping may endure for a night buy joy comes in the morning
Jesus wants to...
- Comfort in the midst of crisis;
- Help in the midst of hopelessness,
- Give you Peace in the midst of perplexity,
- Solutions in the midst of problems,
- Wealth in the midst of poverty,
- Stability for our stumbling,
- Victory for our battles,
- Deliverance from our defeats,
- Forgiveness for our faults,
- Faith for our fears, and
- Light for our darkness!
So I encourage you to look back over your life, remember, and give thanks to God for what He has done for you – for truly He has done great things ... and He is worthy of your praise.
I know that many of you may be going through your night season right now. Nevertheless, rest assure, God know about them and He truly cares. Your situation may seem dark but just think back on the darkest day ever in the history of mankind, and God’s knowledge of it.
Jot this scripture in your margin
(Luke 23:44,45)
[v.44] “And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. [v.45] And the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.”
- During this darkness ... the religious leaders thought they had rid themselves of Jesus.
- The Adversary must have thought he had killed the Son of God, and won the victory that he has always sought for ... to exalt himself above God.
You see ... he had Abraham, he had Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, He had all the Major prophet and all the minor Prophet..., and now he thought that He had defeated Jesus with His death on the cross.
If Satan had only known that, he had sealed his doom. I Corinthians 2:8 says
Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
So, that means to me that Calvary was not a defeat but a victory. Yes ... weeping may endure for a night but because of what Jesus did for us on Calvary ... Joy comes in the morning.
Joy comes in the morning ... early Sunday morning ... Jesus got up with all power in His hand. Shook off his grace clothes ...
... O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (Isaiah 15:55)
- Jesus said the grave couldn’t hold Him!
- He said He would rise from the dead.
- He said He had the power to lay His life down and the power to take it again!
Jesus said in Revelations 1:18 "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
- Satan may kick us down, but God lifts us up!
- Satan may try to destroy us, but God remolds us!
- Satan may attempt to ruin us, but God gives us hope!
- Satan may cloud our life with rubbish, but God overcomes it with His riches!
- Satan may hand us sorrow, but God will break through with SOUL SAVING JOY!
Yes ... weeping may endure for a night buy joy comes in the morning
Now I want you to understand that victory comes in the morning, even while it yet be dark.
So ... hold on to God’s promises, morning is coming.
“There’s joy in the morning ... "
- God’s great JOY
Invitation:
(Every Head bowed ... every eye closed)
As we close this service this morning, I’m going to lead us in a word of prayer and ask you to reflect back for a moment on the ways God has brought deliverance into your life.
As He brings them to your mind, praise Him for them -– thank Him for them.
- As I pray, God will be dealing with you who do not know Him, and He’ll be dealing with you about your need for spiritual deliverance from the wages of your sin.
- What I want to ask of you is to respond to Him in obedience -– repent of your sin and place your faith in Christ ... and receive God’s great joy
- Prayer
- Invitation to Christian Discipleship
Benediction
Now the God of peace,
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21
