Sermon Tone Analysis

March 5, 2012

By John Barnett

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As we open to II Samuel 23, we are opening to a confession from an elderly David.

The older we get, the harder it is to hide what is really going on inside our hearts and minds.

Consequently, we become more and more transparent with our feelings and fears.

And God designed it that way.

For as the clay pot, the tent we live in, cracks and tears, He wants the treasure of Christ within us to spill out to encourage others in their own unending struggles.

That is why David’s final words spoke of the power of the Holy Spirit within him.

God’s grace and power, through His precious Spirit, is our only source of strength to live and die in a way that pleases God.

Listen now to David’s words, the confession of a weak old man about how he found limitless strength.

That is the secret to the man after God’s own heart: he knew that life was all about God, and not about him.

II Samuel 23:1-2 (NKJV):

/"Now these are the last words of David.

Thus says David the son of Jesse; Thus says the man raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel: 2 “The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue."/

David said it was God in me that produced these monumental resolves and worship songs.

My paraphrase of the two verses before us would be:

This is David speaking, here is the key to everything in my life: it wasn’t about my words, my life, or my plan, it was all about the Lord in me!

Paul also came to this same conclusion a thousand years after David, in the New Testament.

Paul talks about how he made it through so many hard times as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Writing to the church at Corinth, in 2 Corinthians 4:7 he said:

/"we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of *the power may be of God* and not of us."/

The sum of my life, Paul writes, is the Lord.

Paul was not some superman, he was just like each of us: tempted, tired, and troubled.

But Paul learned, as each of us needs to, that:

*The Weaker we Get The Stronger Christ Becomes*

In the next eleven verses, after v. 7, the Apostle Paul tells us what a treasure it is for us to go through times of weakness.

Even when life is as rough, as Paul’s explanation shows in this passage, we go on because we believe the One who said that His strength is matured in us as we go through great times of weakness.

You follow along in your Bibles as I read a word-for-word, literal translation of these verses rendered 150 years ago, by the author of the Young’s Analytical Concordance (1879), Robert Young (1822-1888):

/"On every side being in tribulation, but not straitened; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

at all times the dying of the Lord Jesus bearing about in the body, that the life also of Jesus in our body may be manifested, for always are we who are living delivered up to death because of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our dying flesh, so that, the death indeed in us doth work, and the life in you.

And having the same spirit of the faith, according to that which hath been written, ‘I believed, therefore I did speak;’ we also do believe, therefore also do we speak; knowing that He who did raise up the Lord Jesus, us also through Jesus shall raise up, and shall present with you, for the all things are because of you, that the grace having been multiplied, because of the thanksgiving of the more, may abound to the glory of God; wherefore, we faint not, but if also our outward man doth decay, yet the inward is renewed day by day; for the momentary light matter of our tribulation, more and more exceedingly an age-during weight of glory doth work out for us—we not looking to the things seen, but to the things not seen; for the things seen are temporary, but the things not seen are age-during"/ (2 Corinthians 4:8-18, Young's Literal Translation, 1862).

As we turn back again to Psalm 71, we are entering into the days of weakness and old age in David’s life.

Because God spends so much time capturing David’s life, seen through the lens of Scripture: we have more truth explained about how David faced and made it through the troubles of old age, than about anyone else.

As we open to Psalm 71, we will see God show us through David’s life: How to get ready for growing old in a godly way.

God has truths to anchor us in godliness through the closing days of our lives.

These are the truths that lead to Christ's words of reward when we finish.

First, look again at David’s resolve in v. 18:

Now also when I am old and grayheaded,

O God, do not forsake me,

Until I declare Your strength to this generation,

Your power to everyone who is to come.

Jesus has clearly expressed what He would like to say to each of us when we arrive safely home to dwell with Him forever: “Well done, good and faithful servant …” (Matthew 25:21)!

Those words, from Christ, constitute for believers:

*Winning the Ultimate Prize*

For every part of life people recognize the ultimate prize: the Triple Crown in horse racing, the Americus Cup in yachting; the Green Jacket of the Master’s Golf Tournament; and that Super Bowl winning team’s ring.

For believers, there is also an “ultimate prize”.

Christ's “Well done!” is the ultimate prize for living purposefully for God—even in our waning years when old age and all that entails has come upon us.

It is possible to finish well, even in ill-health, and with limited strength.

We have for us in the English-speaking world a song written from the lives of two saints who suffered deep loneliness and physical struggles, but who did not give in to despondency.

Their lives were anchored in the hope of God's Word, and their lives became a great blessing to others, because they simply viewed all their hardships through the lens of God’s Word.

Listen to this account of the setting behind the song: His Eye is On the Sparrow.

Songwriter Civilla D. Martin (1869–1948) gives this account of meeting this couple in 1905 and what prompted her to write this beloved song:

My hus¬band and I were so¬journ¬ing in El¬mi¬ra, New York.

We con¬tract¬ed a deep friend¬ship for a cou¬ple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doo¬lit¬tle—true saints of God.

Mrs. Doo¬lit¬tle had been bed¬rid¬den for nigh twen¬ty years.

Her hus¬band was an in-cur¬a¬ble crip¬ple who had to pro¬pel him¬self to and from his bus¬i¬ness in a wheel chair.

De¬spite their af¬flict¬ions, they lived hap¬py Christ¬ian lives, bring¬ing in¬spir¬a¬tion and com¬fort to all who knew them.

One day while we were vi¬sit¬ing with the Doo-lit¬tles, my hus¬band com¬ment¬ed on their bright hope¬ful¬ness and asked them for the se¬cret of it.

They read us this verse:

/"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father in heaven.

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than sparrows."/

(Matthew 10:29–31)

Then, Mrs. Doo¬lit¬tle’s re¬ply was sim¬ple: “His eye is on the spar¬row, and I know He watch¬es me.”

The beau¬ty of this sim¬ple ex¬press¬ion of bound¬less faith gripped the hearts and fired the imag¬in¬a¬tion of Dr. Mar¬tin and me.

*God’s Eyes Are On the Sparrow*

The hymn “His Eye Is on the Spar¬row” was the out¬come of that ex¬per¬i¬ence.

1.

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come, why should my heart be lonely and long for Heav’n and home, when Jesus is my portion?

My constant Friend is He: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

2. “Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear, and resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears; tho’ by the path He leadeth but one step I may see: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know we watches me.

3. Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, when songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him; from care He sets me free; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain: I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free, for His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

What a difference it makes to see our life through the lens of Scripture.

Then each day’s struggles are seen as God’s plan that we willingly submit to!

The prophet Habakkuk, who wrote one of the most hope-filled paragraphs in the Bible, understood this vital principle.

Twenty-seven hundred years ago, when Israel was in a steep decline and headed for national ruin, defeat, and deportation to Babylon, he wrote:

/"Though the fig tree may not blossom, /

/Nor fruit be on the vines;/

/Though the labor of the olive may fail,/

/And the fields yield no food;/

/Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,/

/And there be no herd in the stalls—/

/Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,/

/I will joy in the God of my salvation"/ (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

The key to finishing life by ending well like this is the long term cultivation of godly habits.

Life is a constant stream of choices, and each choice we make has a consequence.

The consequences of godly habits are good; the consequences of ungodly habits are bad.

Life is really that simple, and David in Psalm 71 knew that.

*GOD CAN BE TRUSTED IN ALL SEASONS OF LIFE*

Psalm 71 is a study of looking at the words of someone who ended well—someone whom God prompted to pause and look back over his life.

At its writing the author was old, had lived through much pain, and was facing the weaknesses of old age with all its challenges, blessings, and curses.

Some have questioned the authorship of Psalm 71, but if it wasn’t David, the only other possibilities would be Samuel or Jeremiah.

If it was Samuel, it was most likely David who captured the thoughts from his wonderful mentor and friend and put them down on parchment to sing of God’s great faithfulness.

If it was Jeremiah, then there is also a hint of the troubles he confessed in Lamentations as well as the hope he declared in 3:23: … Great is Your faithfulness.

I believe that David is the strongest case for authorship because this has been almost universally agreed upon from ancient times.

The Bible of Christ's day (the Septuagint) says so, as do most Jewish sources.

In the Hebrew Bible, Psalm 71 is joined to Psalm 70, also written by David.

In addition, the first three verses of Psalm 71 were taken directly from Psalm 31 that David wrote while fleeing from Absalom.