THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

XXV. Using Scripture To Nurture The Heart

(Psalm 25:1-22)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

There is a lot of stress and strain on the inner man in today's world:

(1) After last week's tragic school shooting in Texas, (a) columnist Michael Graham wrote, "Can America fix anything?" (Republican-American, May 26, 2022, p. 8A) asserting, "Watching the heart-wrenching scene of sobbing parents mourning school children lost due to senseless violence" and "(a)s an angry parent," he was convinced that "we can't fix anything . . . One reason is our lack of faith in our would-be 'fixers' . . . America's current crop of 'elites' – technocrats, bureaucrats and politicians who are supposed to be in the solution business – are lousy at their jobs."

(b) Such incompetence occurred at the local shooting site itself: When the gunman arrived, the "school officer" was "driving nearby but was not on campus . . . leaving him unable to confront the shooter before he entered the building." The "crisis came to an end roughly an hour later" when "a group of Border Patrol tactical officers entered the school." (AP, "Gunman was inside school for more than an hour," Ibid., May 27, 2022, p. 1A)

(2) In connection to this, we face damaging fallout to children caused by school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic: The closures "did little to suppress the spread of COVID-19 infections but did enormous damage to children's social and academic development. It also spawned a new and disturbing trend of mental illness and even suicide among young people . . ." ("Some lessons still unlearned," Ibid., May 19, 2022, p. 8A)

(3) The national baby formula shortage crisis is another stress point, and " . . . (E)xperts say the products have long been vulnerable to this type of crisis due to decades of [government] policies that have allowed a handful of companies to corner the market." (Associated Press, "U. S. safety, savings rules set stage for baby formula shortage," Ibid., May 25, 2022, p. 5B) All that was needed to set off this crisis was for a charge to be made about a product contamination in the largest baby formula producing plant in America and the FDA's reaction of shutting it all down!

However, Cynthia M. Allen's column, "Breastfeeding, reconsidered" (Ibid., May 25, 2022, p. 7A) added that "one of the major factors that contributed to our outsized dependence on baby formula" is "the appalling lack of education and support for mothers in their early postpartum days . . . While there are . . . sometimes necessary reasons for mothers to feed their babies formula . . . there really isn't any disagreement over the benefits of nursing."

(4) We face the strain of a single party dominance: The editorial, "Impartiality a distant goal" (Ibid., May 21, 2022, p. 6A) claimed, " . . . (M)any levels of power are controlled by a single party regardless of electoral outcomes . . . (T)he federal bureaucracies – which have amassed an inordinate amount of power thanks to executive overreach and legislative delegation – and political nonprofits throughout Washington are still dominated by Democrats."

(5) Because of the seemingly relentless presence of such stresses and strains today, mental health is a rising concern. This was evidenced by Daniel Henninger's column on May 19, 2022, in The Wall Street Journal that was titled, "The Next Pandemic: Mental Illness." (cited in "Quotable," Ibid.)

Need: So, we ask, "In view of the stress and strain on the inner man today, what is the path toward fulfillment?!"

I. Psalm 25:1-22 contains repeat references to David's personal afflictions (Psalm 25:2, 3, 15-18), an awareness of guilt for the sins of his youth (Psalm 25:7) and his great current sins (Psalm 25:8, 11, 18) besides the afflictions of the nation Israel (Psalm 25:22).

II. Since such afflictions in the dispensation of the Law occurred as God's discipline for violating His Law (Deuteronomy 28:15-25), David realized that he and Israel had violated that Law out of ignorance of it:

A. Psalm 25:1-22 is an acrostic psalm where each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 813), what emphasizes Hebrew words and thus the Hebrew words of Scripture.

B. The psalm also repeatedly expresses the need to be instructed in God's righteousness for blessing (Psalm 25:4-5, 8-10, 12-15), what coincides with the promise of blessing for obeying the Law in Deuteronomy 28:1-14.

C. Accordingly, David realized the need both in himself and in the nation Israel to enhance their understanding of God's Word and His righteousness that they might heed Him for blessing and to end their many afflictions!

III. For the MOTIVATION then to learn Scripture, David stated blessings God provides for the teachable:

A. David clarified that if one hopes in God, he will not be put to shame, Psalm 25:3, 20 NIV.

B. He added that God guides the meek in the right decisions and He teaches them His ways, Psalm 25:9 NIV.

C. David noted that all of God's paths are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who heed Him, v. 10 ESV.

D. King David observed that if one reveres the Lord, God instructs him in the way he should choose, his inner man will experience well-being and his descendants will inherit the land in stability, Psalm 25:12-13 ESV.

E. The psalmist claimed that God confides in those who revere Him, giving them insight in His Word, v. 14 NIV.

F. David stated that paying heed to God is rewarded by His delivering David from traps by his foes, v. 15 ESV.

G. He acknowledged that relying on the Lord solved his needs of loneliness and relationship trials, v. 16 NIV.

H. David wrote that though trials of his inner man increase, God brings him out of all of them, Psalm 25:17 ESV.

I. He noted that in hoping in God, his integrity and uprightness protect him from troubles, Psalm 25:21 NIV.

Lesson: When David and Israel lived in ignorance of God's Word, they suffered great affliction for disobeying the Lord in ignorance. However, for the TEACHABLE who were MOTIVATED in HOPE of God's BLESSINGS, growth in knowing the Scriptures would lead to abundant blessings with the resulting nurture of the inner man.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) In view of the many edifying results of being TEACHABLE so as to GROW in our understanding and hence in our obedience to God's Word, may we expose our minds and hearts to God's Word and find great and assorted blessings especially for our inner man.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

In accord with our sermon conclusion, we view Scripture on properly handling the issues of concern mentioned in our introduction that address the need for nurturing the inner man (as follows):

(1) On the Texas school shooting tragedy, and the sense that today's leaders are inept at fixing this kind of problem, (a) we have often noted that Revelation 3:21 with 7:17 predicted a "mini-Great Tribulation" for our era when oppressive leaders full of intrigue would afflict their subjects, producing disillusionment to where people would seek solutions and find them in Bible teaching churches. Our part is to point people to salvation of sinners from sin and hell by faith in Christ and His atonement for sin followed by a life of dependence on the Holy Spirit for renewal of the inner man. (See "(5)" below.) (b) Also, as many violent male shooters come from homes of dysfunctional fathers, Psalm 128:1-6 teaches that if a male head of household reveres and obeys the Lord, his marriage, then family, then community, then nation and finally the world will be positively influenced for blessing. The solution to school shootings is not found in "technocrats, bureaucrats and politicians who are supposed to be in the solution business," but in male heads of households coming to trust in Christ as Savior and walking by the Holy Spirit's power!

(2) On the negative fallout on children due to COVID-19 school closures, the solution is for their fathers to revere the Lord and to obey Him as noted in Psalm 128:1-6 above!

(3) On the baby formula shortage crisis, since the crisis is attributed to the incompetency of bloated government bureaucracies and ignorance by postpartum mothers of the superior benefits of nursing and support of postpartum mothers, (a) we need to function as independent of the government as we can (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12) and (b) highlight the importance of family and extended family roles in supporting postpartum mothers (Titus 2:3-5).

(4) On the stress of a single party dominance regardless of electoral outcomes in elections, Isaiah 40:21-24 ESV claims that God sovereignly "sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers" Who also "brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness." Our focus should be on our Sovereign God and obeying Him, confident that He can easily shift circumstances so that the single party dominance means nothing of consequence while God accomplishes His will both in the world and in our personal lives!

(5) On the alleged imminent mental health crisis that Daniel Henninger of The Wall Street Journal termed "The Next Pandemic," (a) the fruit of God the Holy Spirit Who indwells everyone who has put his faith in Christ for salvation from sin and hell is described as being "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness" and "self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV). According to a Christian family therapist, each of these qualities is the opposite of a known psychological disorder! Providing the cause of a mental or emotional problem is not physical in nature, mental health is achieved by (i) personal salvation from sin by faith in Christ where the Holy Spirit comes to indwell one's soul followed by (ii) a continual reliance by the believer on the Holy Spirit for thought and behavior control! (b) Also, psychological tests performed on a group of Christians found that those who consistently spent time in Scripture were the only group who showed "no significant pathology," no significant problem in the inner man! (Psychiatrist Frank B. Minirth, M. D., You Can Measure Your Mental Health, 1980, p. 14)

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life. May we then be teachable so as to grow in our understanding of God's Word with our resulting growth in obedience to it for manifold blessings, especially to the nurture of our inner man in today's world.