O God of My Salvation

Driving home: And so though we may be accused by the world as being morbid and by much of the Christian church, the church casting the same accusation at us, we must never regard lightly those great sections of the word of God which n…

Just as the Lord's Prayer teaches us how to pray, Psalm 51 instructs us how to repent, providing a model for dealing with sin.

And what is mourning but one of the essential elements of true penitence. And so though we may be accused by the world as being morbid and by much of the Christian church, the church casting the same accusation at us, we must never regard lightly those great sections of the word of God which not only tell us that we ought to be penitents, those who experience true repentance for sin, but we must regard seriously those passages which give us a model of true penitence. For as I trust you have seen in our studies, the human heart is so perverse by nature that it left to itself, it doesn't even kn...

1:39 - 3:08 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But now as he prays, his faith grows stronger in the very context of prayer. Now this is a very practical lesson.

Many Christians utter a 'little ditty' and absolve themselves, like a priest, without truly experiencing restored relationship with God.

If you are to be biblically penitent, and much of our problem is we just don't stick with the thing long enough. So many times we just utter a little ditty and pronounce ourselves absolved. We sort of talk to ourselves like a priest does to a person on the other side of the black veil. Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

9:22 - 9:40 Read in full sermon

Driving home: You mean God is the Savior of a murderer and an adulterer? That's exactly what David is saying. Exactly. Though I've murdered and committed adultery, thou art my Savior.

Careless driving that causes another to kill someone makes the careless driver guilty of murder, illustrating how God lays blame for chain-effect sin.

But God indicts David for that sin and says, David, you killed him. Then he says, you've taken his wife to be thy wife and has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Because David deliberately schemed and arranged the situation in which Uriah was to be killed many miles away from the palace by the sword of an Ammonite, God says, because David arranged it, it's just as though he were there right on the battlefield, took the sword and plunged it into the breast of Uriah. Tremendous principle here about this matter of God knows where to lay the blame for sin and it has all kinds of im...

11:36 - 12:16 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: David's promise to 'sing aloud of thy righteousness' is examined, noting the transformation from mourning to intense, loud singing. The theme of the song is exclusively God's…

A quote stating that all intense passions (anger, sorrow, fear, joy) express themselves loudly, explaining why David will 'sing aloud'.

He says, my tongue shall sing, what? Sing aloud of thy righteousness. He specifies how he'll be engaged in singing. Someone has said all passions are loud.

17:15 - 17:28 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: David's promise to 'sing aloud of thy righteousness' is examined, noting the transformation from mourning to intense, loud singing. The theme of the song is exclusively God's…

The proverbial shriek of a woman seeing a mouse illustrates how fear expresses itself with loud volume, reinforcing the idea that intense emotion leads to loud expression.

Fear, it'll shriek with a loud voice. The proverbial woman seeing a mouse.

17:52 - 17:58 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: David's promise to 'sing aloud of thy righteousness' is examined, noting the transformation from mourning to intense, loud singing. The theme of the song is exclusively God's…

Recalling the experience of a teenage boy's voice cracking when excited illustrates how enthusiasm naturally leads to increased volume, even if embarrassing.

Some of you fellows, remember what it was like when you were about 13, 14, when the voice wasn't quite down in the mail register? It wasn't up there, still in that. And when you got excited, your voice went whoop and shot up into that other register. You can remember that.

19:51 - 20:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: there are times when God allows the protective wall of His keeping power to be lifted and allows His children to enmesh themselves in areas of sin and disobedience that He might bring them to a shocking awareness of the …

Peter's boastful claim that he would never deny Christ, followed by his three denials and bitter weeping, illustrates how God allows His people to fall to break their self-righteousness and teach them to sing of His righteousness alone.

I'm sure if ever Peter could sing and read the 51st Psalm, he could after that night when having boasted, I'm too strong to ever deny you, Lord, that doesn't happen to Peters. Oh, that might happen to little doubting Thomases. And that might happen to little meek Matthews. Not big bull Peter.

23:34 - 23:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's a terrible thing to come to an honest biblical view of how rotten you are. Terrible to have to come to it the way David did. But far better that you come to that shocking sight that you have. That you might apprecia…

Martin expresses suspicion of testimonies that dwell on past sins in a way that suggests a 'secret hankering' to return, rather than focusing on God's righteousness.

I'm always suspicious when I hear an announcement of an evangelist or someone who's going to give his testimony. He's going to talk about from the pool room to the pool pit. And he's going to go into all the details of his pool room life almost in a way that you wonder if he doesn't have a secret hankering to be back in. Always suspicious when someone is singing aloud of their past life of sin.

25:17 - 25:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Let each reminder of the righteousness of God initiate fresh praise to God and let's continue to meditate upon it until the heart is so full that we say with David, my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

A lighthearted anecdote about a friend named Paul who struggles to speak loudly, used to clarify that the virtue is not in volume itself, but in the heart's fullness of praise.

except my friend Paul.

29:53 - 29:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Unless the heart is free from the sense of guilt and has the fragrance of the fresh application of the blood of Christ by faith, even the preacher scolding you for not singing aloud doesn't do too much.

The metaphor that 'rain shall never meet' between guilt on the conscience and songs on the lips illustrates their mutual exclusivity.

rain shall never meet.

30:45 - 30:46 Read in full sermon

Driving home: We may shut our own lips by our sin but we can't open them again.

Just as one can amputate an arm but not reattach it, or drown a man but not give him life, so sin can shut one's lips to praise, but only God can open them again.

Just as we may amputate an arm but we can't put it back on again. We may drown a man but can't give him life. We can go out and sell our song for some silly little sin but we can't get it back. And so David acknowledges this and he says O Lord open thou my lips.

36:30 - 36:55 Read in full sermon

Driving home: We may shut our own lips by our sin but we can't open them again.

The psalmist's statement 'many shall see it' in reference to a new song in his mouth is used to explain that genuine praise is visible through a life touched by God's delivering power.

I've often been fascinated with the 40th Psalm along this line where the psalmist said I cried unto the Lord I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry he brought me up out of an horrible pit and set my feet upon the rock and then he says he hath put a new song in my mouth even praise to our God many shall hear it no it says many shall see it well how do you see a song?

37:31 - 37:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray that God would open your lips and deal with anything that would keep you from open lips, whether it's individualism, indifference, carelessness, or mental distraction.

The idea that the devil would not have tempted Adam and Eve if he knew it would lead to a multitude singing God's redemptive praise illustrates how God turns evil into greater glory.

Well I don't want to get the application yet I want to do that a little bit at the end and what will be the result after the petition open thou my lips here's the result Lord if you'll do this my mouth shall show forth declare forth held abroad thy praise and again we have the mouth we had in verse 14 the tongue singing aloud of righteousness now the mouth showing forth the praises of God it's as though David recognizes well the devil has overplayed his hand and this is a marvelous thing to me do you think that the devil ever would have tempted Adam and Eve to do that Adam and Eve to sin if he...

38:38 - 40:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray that God would open your lips and deal with anything that would keep you from open lips, whether it's individualism, indifference, carelessness, or mental distraction.

A scenario where various reasons (marital conflict, spiritual dullness, distraction) lead half the congregation to have 'closed lips' in worship, explaining why corporate praise may not be glorious.

with singing enter into his courts with thanksgiving into his gates with praise our way of approach to God should be paved with praise to God is a highway of praise how are we going to lay that highway and then walk upon it it's only as we come conscious that the Lord must open our lips and that he by grace must alter anything in us that would keep us from coming with everything that's bound up in those little words open thou my lips where my heart is cold warm it that my lips might be opened in praise where my heart may have the stain of some unconfessed sin Lord deal with it you see if we ge...

41:35 - 43:05 Read in full sermon