Sermon Tone Analysis

*Personal Revival from a Spiritual Recession – Ps. 119:25-32*

/Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church on October 19, 2008/

www.goldcountrybaptist.org

 

*25**My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.

*

*26**I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; *

*Teach me Your statutes.

*

*27**Make me understand the way of Your precepts, *

*So I will meditate on Your wonders.

*

*28**My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word.

*

*29**Remove the false way from me, And graciously grant me Your law.

*

*30**I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances /before me./ *

*31**I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! *

*32**I shall run the way of Your commandments, *

*For You will enlarge my heart.

*

 

If you have been following the news at all in recent weeks and even this past week, you know that the word from our /world/ is not very encouraging at all.

The collapse of major banking institutions, worst stock market plummets since 1929, the foreboding financial recession the experts keep speaking of and warning of, etc.

Where is our hope and encouragement going to be found?

The news?

The government?

$700 billion?

The next president?

New policies?

Is our /spiritual/ level dependent on the Dow Jones high lows or Wall Street?

What is clearer to me than ever before is that our hope must be before the throne of God above, our hope must be built on nothing less than Jesus and His righteousness.

That is the solid rock we can stand on as believers, while all other ground is sinking sand.

There is still much debate and talk in the world about how to revive our economy and prevent financial recession, but I want to give you some good news for a change this morning – not from the world, but from the Word of God, where true encouragement is found for personal reviving of your soul from a spiritual recession.

Right before v. 25, your Bibles have the section title DALETH.

That’s the 4th letter of the Hebrew alphabet (equivalent to D in our alphabet), and each of the verses in the original text began with the letter and sound for ‘D.’

If we were to try and reproduce that in English, I would paraphrase or summarize the passage as follows:

/v. 25 *D*own and out in the dust needing revival/

/v.

26 *D*eclaring our ways, in need of God’s ways/

/v.

27 *D*epending on God’s teaching/

/v.

28 *D*iscouraged but praying for Scriptural encouragement/

/v.

29 *D*eceiving no more – give me God’s truth/

/v.

30 *D*eciding to choose the ways of God’s Word/

/v. 31 *D*edicating to stick with the Word no matter what/

/v.

32 *D*etermining to run the race before him/

This passage tells of his personal revival from a spiritual recession, how God took him from “down and out” (v 25) to “up and running” (v 32).

Psalm 119 has places where it soars in its high praise and love for the law of the Lord, but its writer also experienced the lows and ups and downs we experience, and this stanza begins with one of those downs.

Other “D” words commentators use for his emotions: depressed, downcast, disheartened, disconsolate, despondent.

The last verse from last week (v.

24) had him /reveling in delight/, but now v. 25 is /reeling in despair/.

Other paraphrases of v. 25:

- “I am completely discouraged”

- “I am sunk to the ground under the crushing weight of trouble”

- “I’m in a spiritual recession” (on path to a spiritual great depression?)

 

It’s hard for a pilgrim to make progress in the slough of despond, in fact, verse 25 uses the word “cleave” – his soul is seemingly stuck in this state; his face is down to the ground and he feels stuck there, spiritually grounded, unable to move, down and out, he’s stuck.

The word for “cleave” in the Greek translation of the OT was used for glue, and the Latin translation used the word /adhesit, /which we get the English words /adhesive /and /adhere /from;/ /things that stick.

Look at v. 25 – it says “my soul cleaves to the dust.”

Dust it not something normally desired to be stuck to us, for normal people (unless you’re Charlie Brown’s friend or some young kids).

In fact, when Jews would /intentionally/ put dust and ashes on themselves, it was a sign of devastation, mourning.

I’ve read that in the old cattle drives in the American west, the last place any cowboy wanted to be was “riding drag,” that is, at the back of the herd.

The dust would cover him in layers from top to toe and it would be very hard to get dust off.

Charles Bridges writes: ‘As the dust of the summer road blinds the eye . . .

this earthliness of soul darken[s] the view of the Saviour [and] dim[s] the eye of faith!’[1]

Dust was also the language of humiliation or defeat in Bible times.

Even in our day, we say “another one bites the dust” to refer to defeat.

The psalmist certainly seems to feel defeated.

We use the phrase “down and out” to refer to the type of discouragement the psalmist feels here, and nothing is lower than dust.

In biblical language, dust was also often associated with death, lack of life.

Perhaps he feels on the brink of death?

Or this may refer to the spiritual deadness he feels, his diminished spiritual life.

In the same way Adam was formed from the dust and dependent on God’s creative Word God for life, we are equally dependent spiritually.

This passage shows how the spiritually /down and out/ are picked up, dusted off by God, and set off /up and running/ again: Revival

* *

*25**My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.

*

 

When you’re down on the ground, there’s no where to look but up.

Like the hymn says “Frail children of dust and feeble as frail, in Thee (God) do we trust, nor find thee to fail.”

He looks up from the dust as a needy failing soul, trusting in his unfailing Almighty God as His only hope, in the midst of a world where all else may fail around him.

Whether a nation or society unravels at its seams economically or morally, what is most needed is /spiritual revival./

We should pray for our nation, but let’s start by praying for our /own souls/.

This prayer “revive me” is more than just “preserve my life” (NIV).

It is “give me life” (ESV), or in old English “quicken me” (KJV).

He is as helpless to give himself life as Adam was, his total being is lying prostrate in the dust, but he cries to God for life.

The Bible is clear that revival is something man /can pray for/ but it it’s equally clear man cannot /produce, predict or plan/ revival – it is a sovereign work of God’s sovereign grace.

I know sometimes well-meaning Christians will plan “revival meetings” or say we’re going to a revival tonight … but man trying to plan a revival is kind of like man trying to plan an earthquake.

There are forces we not only can’t control, but we can’t predict or manipulate either.

John Blanchard said it this way: “Man can no more organize revival than he can dictate to the wind.”[2]

Only King Jesus has the wind obey Him, and only He can make a true revival happen.

A revival isn’t created by having a big tent meeting, or filling a stadium full of people for some Christian-sponsored event, or having famous Christians perform on stage, or celebrity Christians speaking, or having emotional music or video clips, etc.

Those things may be fine and fun, but /revival/ is not the right word for it.

Verse 25 prays “Revive me according to Your Word” … so what does /revival according to God’s Word/ look like?

This text was inspired by the Holy Spirit with an answer that question, and that’s what we’ll see in the rest of this passage this morning.

The answer is in essence the same for a nation as it is for individuals.

*What exactly is /revival?/*/

/The word “revive” is used for someone who had life and then seemed to lose it, but was revived or resuscitated, or brought back to the level of life they had before.

It’s been described here as ‘spiritual revitalization … “Enliven me” … the parameters of restoration … extend beyond a mere survival to the scope of a meaningful “abundant life.”

This fullness of life in Divine favor [/BDB/ /Lexicon/, p. 311] is undeserved although not [unavailable] in the light of the LORD’s gracious promises.’[3]

This writer doesn’t want merely survival, he asks for revival.

Note the similarities with first verse of last week’s stanza (v.

18) “deal bountifully … *that I may live* and keep Your Word”

 

When we talk about spiritual revival, it’s the re-awakening of God’s people joyfully to spiritual things, as well as the awakening of many for the first time to God’s saving grace in the process, after a time of spiritual dryness, dullness, deadness, even discipline

 

Psalm 85:4-7 (NASB95) 4 *Restore us*, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease.

5 Will You be angry with us forever?

Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?