Sermon Tone Analysis

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Intro: On Thursday of this week, NBC news reported that "Cheers erupted from more than 1,000 volunteers and officials after they pulled a survivor from the rubble of a textile factory more than two days after it was obliterated by Mexico's earthquake.

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But then they said, “There was little time to celebrate, however.

for shortly after the person [was] pulled from the mangled concrete in Mexico City's Colonia Obrera neighborhood Thursday evening, the workers resumed their search.

Hundreds of people have been killed by Tuesday's magnitude 7.1 quake.

With the rescue of each survivor, there is rejoicing by all the searchers and the family of those rescued.

Everyone can related to what it's like to be rescued or saved from certain death.

But not everyone understands what it means to be saved by Jesus spiritually.

And not everyone understands that God also saves us in other ways, such as from enemies, difficult situations, and the wrath of God.

In , King David rejoices over how God saves us from our troubles, our fears, and God's wrath.

Let's read our text in .

This Psalm was written by David in response to God saving him from the hand of Achish, king of the Philistines.

In his effort to escape from king Saul who was now hunting him down, David tried to hide in the city of Gath, which was one of the five principle cities of the Philistines.

In fact, it was the home town of Goliath, who he killed in his first encounter with the Philistines.

By this time in David’s life, he had already led the armies of Saul into battle against the Philistines.

In fact, he was credited with killing thousands Philistines.

One has to wonder what David was thinking by trying to hide among the Philistines.

Of course, king Saul could not look for him among the Philistines.

We don’t know who, but someone recognized David, so he was arrested and brought to king Achish.

When he appeared before king Achish, David immediately pretended to be crazy.

states, “[he} made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard” ().

It sounds like he started scratching and maybe even biting the gates like a animal.

As a result of this, king Achish had them toss the mad man out of the city.

Regardless of whether he was believed to crazy or not, he was the arch enemy of the Philistines.

Why didn’t the king have David executed?

David could only think of one thing, the intervention of God.

Consequently, David writes a song praising God for saving him.

The first ten verses of is a song.

Let’s look at the first three verses of our text, for there we see the praise of God, the kind of praise that God deserves from all of us.

I.

The Praise of God

We know why David wrote this chapter, for it tells us.

He wrote it in response to God’s deliverance.

Unlike nine of the ten lepers who never came back to give thanks to Jesus for healing them, David is thankful for God’s saving hand.

But the when, we are not sure about.

Could David have written this after Saul was dead and he was crowned king?

Could it have come about from David’s private time with God.

I’ve been there, and I’m sure many of you have too.

You’re praying to God, giving thanks for this or that and then suddenly out of nowhere, the Holy Spirit reminds you of a past situation that was painful, and frightening, but then God showed up.

He came to your rescue.

He delivered you from your fears.

He took care of your problem.

He did what only God could do.

You may not have heard a voice from heaven, but you could see God’s hand prints all over it, so this bubble of praise comes rushing forth from the depths of your soul like it does here in David’s heart.

1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!

1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2  My soul makes its boast in the LORD;

let the humble hear and be glad.

3  Oh, magnify the LORD with me,

and let us exalt his name together!

David is not satisfied with a little praise on Sunday morning, or in the temple during worship service.

He will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in his mouth.

And he wants others to join in, for he says in verse 3, “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!

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Lets do exactly that.

There is a song in our hymnal titled, I Will Praise Him! It’s on page 57, but all I want you to do is quote the chorus when we get to it, and it will be on the screen.

It goes like this, “When I saw the cleansing fountain, open wide for all my sin, I obeyed the Spirit’s calling When He said, “Wilt thou be clean”

I obeyed the Spirit’s calling When He said, “Wilt thou be clean”

Chorus: I will praise Him!

I will praise Him! Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;

Give Him glory, all ye people, For His blood can wash away each stain.

Verse Two: Tho the way seems straight and narrow, All I claimed was swept away; My ambitions, plans and wishes At my feet in disarray.

Chorus: I will praise Him!

I will praise Him! Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;

Give Him glory, all ye people, For His blood can wash away each stain.

Verse Three: Blessed be the name of Jesus!

I’m so glad He took me in; He’s forgiven my transgressions, He has cleansed my heart from sin.”

Chorus: I will praise Him!

I will praise Him! Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;

Give Him glory, all ye people, For His blood can wash away each stain.

Every morning the most amazing thing happens that everyone’s life depends on, the sun comes up.

Without it we are doomed.

Without it all life is gone.

But do we praise God for it, most do not.

Let us praise Him in the morning.

Let us praise Him in the noonday.

Let us praise Him in the evening.

Let us live with an awareness of His presence and praise in our heart.

In David’s case, his praise for God is due to God’s saving hand.

II.

The Salvation of God

God saved David from the wrath of the king of the Philistines.

This is not about spiritual salvation.

It’s about physical salvation.

It’s about earthly salvation.

Jesus is not just in the business of saving our souls.

He seeks to save us from our fears, our sins, our enemies, and of course, the wrath of God.

R. C. Sproul, a former pastor, seminary professor, and author, in his book, Saved from What? tells about an incident that occurred when He was returning to his seminary class after lunch many years ago.

He writes, After depositing my lunch tray in the bin I begin my trek across the plaza to my classroom.

I walking briskly to avoid being late.

i was alone, minding my own business.

Suddenly, apparently out of nowhere, a gentleman appeared in front of me, blocking my forward progress.

He looked me in the eye and asked directly, "Are you saved."

The first words that popped out of his mouth was, "Saved from what?" the man asking the question was then caught off guard for he first stumbled around, and then said, "Well, you know what I mean.

You know, do you know Jesus?"

The word “saved” can mean many different things.

In fact, the Bible uses it to mean much more than being spiritually saved.

But even when we talk about being spiritually saved, studies have shown that Christians have a lot of different ideas about what being saved means.