Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

Have you ever wondered what the will of God is on your life?

Or have you ever struggled with making decisions because you know that decision will affect not only you but your family and those around you? Have you ever just wanted guidance from God? Especially during times of difficulty?

Columbia researcher Sheena Iyengar has found that the average person makes about 70 decisions every day.

That's 25,500 decisions a year.

Over 70 years, that's 1,788,500 decisions.

[The 20th century philosopher] Albert Camus said, "Life is a sum of all your choices."

You put all of those 1,788,500 choices together, and that's who you are.

As believers in Jesus we want Him to be at the center of our decision making.

Today we are looking at so if you have your Bibles you can go ahead and turn them there.

So this message this morning is mostly directed toward those of us who have trusted Jesus and have believed the gospel.

Those of us who aim to make the counsel of Jesus decisive in our decision making process in our everyday lives.

People like David… the man who wrote this Psalm that we are about to read.

David didn’t have an easy life and i’m pretty sure that most of you can relate to that.

Being an adult is hard and it just gets harder once you add a spouse and kids and a house and insurances… add living a Christian life on top of all that… it is hard.

As Christians, it is our desire to please Jesus in every aspect of our lives.

We want to know God’s ways… we want to know the path that he wants us on.

We want to make the right decisions when it comes to:

• In what you watch on TV,

• what job you take,

• whom you marry or whether you marry,

• how you spend your leisure time,

• what courses to take,

• where to live,

• what kind of car to drive,

• how much to eat,

• how to dress,

• how to pray and read the Bible, and

• what sort of sanctuary to build at Bethlehem

And although I’m speaking to mainly believers in Jesus this morning, if that is not you, let me just urge you to listen and consider Jesus and what life with Jesus is like.

John Piper said,

it may suddenly seem reasonable that to put your own wisdom above the wisdom of God in the choices of your everyday life is not only an insult to him but suicide for you.

The only way to salvation is trust in the true God, not an imaginary half-god who offers merciful forgiveness and unacceptable advice.

So with all that said, let’s look at and consider the Word of the Lord for our lives this morning...

Teach Me Your Paths

25  OF DAVID.

1  To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

2  O my God, in you I trust;

let me not be put to shame;

let not my enemies exult over me.

3  Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;

they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

4  Make me to know your ways, O LORD;

teach me your paths.

5  Lead me in your truth and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all the day long.

6  Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love,

for they have been from of old.

7  Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;

according to your steadfast love remember me,

for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!

8  Good and upright is the LORD;

therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

9  He leads the humble in what is right,

and teaches the humble his way.

10  All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,

for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11  For your name’s sake, O LORD,

pardon my guilt, for it is great.

12  Who is the man who fears the LORD?

Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

13  His soul shall abide in well-being,

and his offspring shall inherit the land.

14  The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,

and he makes known to them his covenant.

15  My eyes are ever toward the LORD,

for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

16  Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

17  The troubles of my heart are enlarged;

bring me out of my distresses.

18  Consider my affliction and my trouble,

and forgive all my sins.

19  Consider how many are my foes,

and with what violent hatred they hate me.

20  Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!

Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

21  May integrity and uprightness preserve me,

for I wait for you.

22  Redeem Israel, O God,

out of all his troubles.

This is the Word of the Lord Let’s Pray

There is a lot that is going on here.

As I said a little earlier, this Psalm was written by David.

David experienced a lot of fear, loneliness, guilt, and confusion in his life.

There are a couple of things that I want us to look at from this text this morning and this is the first thing:

Point I: We will have enemies in this life.

It is believed that David wrote this Psalm later in life when he was literally surrounded by people who wanted him dead.

Obviously we can’t be totally sure about when in David’s life he wrote this Psalm but it is believed by many scholars and commentators that he wrote this after his sin with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband Urriah the Hittite.. those events led to his own son Absalom leading a revolt against his father to take over the throne in Israel.

We can assume this because of David’s frequent mention of his sin.

David’s situation is not going too well.

He has enemies that want nothing more than to see him dead (vv.

2-3).

They are many in number and they hate David (v.

19).

They have gained the advantage over David, because he describes his feet as already caught in their net (25:15).

David feels lonely and afflicted, and his troubles are growing worse, not better (vv.

16-17).

And, David’s repeated requests for God to teach him (vv.

4-5, 8-9, 12, 14) imply that he is confused in the midst of this mess.

David is experiencing a difficult time.

And here’s the thing… He’s not a young man anymore.