Psalm 9 - Praise For The Power Of God Series

PRAISE FOR THE POWER OF GOD

TEXT: Psalm 9:1-20

Psalms 9:1-20 KJV To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, A Psalm of David. I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. [2] I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. [3] When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. [4] For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right. [5] Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. [6] O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them. [7] But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment. [8] And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. [9] The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. [10] And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. [11] Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings. [12] When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble. [13] Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: [14] That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation. [15] The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. [16] The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. [17] The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. [18] For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. [19] Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. [20] Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

I. INTRODUCTION—A CONNECTION WITH PSALM 9 & 10

-Psalm 9 and 10 are connected in the form of a Hebrew acrostic. To get an idea of how this works, it would be very similar to taking all twenty-six letters of the English alphabet and beginning a sentence of a verse with A, B, C, and continuing on through Z.

-Psalm 9 is primarily dealing with praise and Psalm 10 is solely focused on prayer.

• Psalm 9—Predominantly focused on praise for deliverance over hostile nations.

• Psalm 10—Predominantly focused on prayer against unscrupulous nations.

-Prior to Psalm 9, we have noticed a connection with the psalms and prayer. But there are some other examples of this kind of activity throughout the rest of the Psalms.

• Psalm 40—A prayer for help with trouble abounds.

• Psalm 44—A prayer for help after Israel has suffered a devastating loss/defeat at the hands of the enemy.

• Psalm 89—A prayer that mourns the downfall of the Davidic dynasty and pleads for its restoration.

-No saint of God has ever come to the place of being able to not have a spiritual mix of praise and prayer.

• Praise without prayer leads to shallow, carnal, and weak worship that only appeals to the flesh.

• Prayer without praise leads to routine, ritualistic, and dry formalism that only appeals to the intellect.

-While the tone of these two psalms are clearly where David is bringing his distress (again) to the Lord, there is still an underlying sense of trust in the Lord that no matter how grim or dark things may appear, David will put his confidence in the Lord.

II. PSALM 9—GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

-As with the previous psalms, I am choosing an outline so that you will be able to arrange it in your mind a bit better. One of the whole reasons that I am choosing to preach through the Psalms is to increase our biblical literacy which is at an all-time low in our generation.

-This outline is one that Harold Wilmington placed in The Outline Bible.

A. Psalm 9:1-3—God’s Righteous Redemption of the Elect

Psalms 9:1-3 KJV To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, A Psalm of David. I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. [2] I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. [3] When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.