Sermon Tone Analysis

*A Song For Today*

*/Psalm 3/*

 

        We are in a series of messages that we are calling "Soul Music" because that is really what the Psalms are; they are songs for the soul.

They speak to the heart.

The Third Psalm that we are going to study today is a unique Psalm in the fact that it is the first time the word "Psalm" occurs.

The Hebrew word is "mizmor" which means a poem that is to be sung to musical accompaniment.

This is the first song that David is recorded as having written.

It is a song for today, because I believe this Psalm speaks to where many of us really do live day-in and day-out.

The background of this Psalm is bad news.

Have you ever experienced a day or maybe a week or even a month or perhaps even a year when bad news was good news because the next news was always worse news.

I heard of a doctor who called a patient one time and said, "John, I've got some bad news and some worse news."

The man said, "What is the bad news?"

He said, "You only have twenty-four hours to live."

The man said, "Well, what is the worst news?"

He said, "I tried to call you yesterday."

These were dark days in the life of King David.

Not only had his son, Absalom rebelled against him, but he had taken the kingdom away from him and was now pursuing him, trying to kill him.

The walls of David's life were crumbling all around him.

The nation as a whole had been deceived into following Absalom and had turned against David.

David had gone from being a king to a criminal on the run.

He was even being ridiculed as a coward by people along the way.

One morning when the armies of Absalom were closing in on him and when it appeared that all was lost, the Lord gave David this Psalm.

This Psalm can easily be divided into three parts because you will notice it is marked by the word "selah".

The word "selah" means something like this – "stop and think about what you have just heard."

It functions somewhat like a spiritual speed bump to get you to slow down and listen to what God has just said.

Remember that the Psalms were songs that were sung by the people of God.

The song that God gave David is a song that God gives to us if you meet any of the following conditions: if you have any problems, you are under any stress, you are having any relational difficulties, you are going through a physical illness, and you are being unjustly criticized.

If any of those things are happening to you or have happened to you then stay tuned; if they haven't they will.

Then, this song is for you.

What God does for David is, first of all, He gives him some bad news.

He then gives him some good news and then He gives him the best news.

First, the bad news...

*I.

You Have Foes Who Will Be Against You*

        If you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

If you have determined that God is going to take first place in your life then the world is a battlefield to you.

War has been declared and you are public enemy number one.

We fail to understand that as far as Christians are concerned the world is enemy territory.

Any direction you go in, if you go with God, you are going to meet the enemy.

Listen to verse 1. /"O LORD, how my adversaries have increased!

Many are rising up against me."/

(Psalm 3:1, NASB)

A Christian does not have to go looking for trouble.

If you are a child of God, trouble will come looking for you.

Psalm 119:157 says,

/"Many are the afflictions of the righteous."

/(Psalm 34:19, NKJV)

I know every day when I get up I have at least three enemies that are just waiting for me when I walk outside my door.

I have an enemy around me, an enemy within me, and an enemy beneath me.

The Bible calls these enemies the world, the flesh and the devil.

The world is my external foe.

The flesh is my internal foe and the devil is my eternal foe.

All three of these enemies work 24~/7 to try and get you away from God to try to cause you to lose your witness, lose your testimony, and lose your character.

For example, the devil will whisper in your ear, "You can get away with it" even though you know the Bible says, "Be sure your sin will find you out."

The world will say, "You are just a product of evolutionary chance and your life has no meaning at all", even though you know the Bible says that "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" and you too!

Your flesh will say, "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may die" even though you know the Bible says, "Whatever, therefore, you eat or drink do all to the glory of God."

I sometimes am amazed that Christians get amazed when some people don't like them because the are Christians.

Jesus said in John 3:19, /"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil."/

(John 3:19, NASB)

We are light living in darkness and darkness hates light and you have foes who are going to be against you.

Listen to what these enemies were saying about David.

/"Many are saying of my soul, 'There is no deliverance for him in God.' Selah."/

(Psalm 3:2, NASB)

They were not just mocking David; they were mocking God.

They were laughing at David's faith and making fun of David's Father.

The word "deliverance" literally means "victory."

What they were saying was, "David, we thought you use to sing how great is our God?

Where is your great God now?"

You are not living a victorious life."

That is one of the most shameful statements anybody can ever make about a follower of God.

Quite frankly, that is what the world says about many Christians today.

Let's be honest, the world does not take the church seriously.

Because of that, the world doesn't take God seriously.

The reason is the world sees a church that doesn't take God seriously.

I want to give you a thought today about your faith in God that I hope you will never forget.

The world cannot see our God, but they can see our faith and they will measure the size of our God by the size of our faith.

What we need to do, both in the way we live our lives on Monday and the way we even do church on Sunday is to show the world by our great faith that we serve a great God.

Daniel 11:32 says this, /"But the people who know their God shall be strong and carry-out great exploits."

/    (Daniel 11:32, NKJV)

I want people that walk into this church to see a people that know God.

I want them to experience what it is like to be around people who see the invisible, who believe the impossible, and want to do the improbable.

The world has their gods and we have our God and we need to show that there is one God and there is no god like our God.

I Samuel 2:2 says, /"There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God."/

(I Samuel 2:2, NIV)

We need to remember that when our foes are against us.

*II.

You Have A Father Who Is Always For You*

        David had made the same fatal error that many Christians often make when they are in the middle of trials and troubles and difficulties.

They focus on their foes and focus on their fears and totally forget their Father.

Let me tell you what I have learned.

When you focus on your foes and your fears, your life will be one day after another of doubt, discouragement, depression, and defeat.

One of the purposes of trials and troubles is to get you to focus on God.

Whenever problems and troubles come into our lives, do you know what we tend to do?

We use them as microscopes to focus on ourselves when we ought to be using them as telescopes to focus on God.

That is exactly what David began to do in verse 3. 

/"But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head."/

(Psalm 3:3, NASB)

Do you see the word "about"?

It literally means "around."

David understood in the middle of trouble and trials that God was a shield around him.