Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz19951203.htm

THRU THE BIBLE SYNTHESIS
"Part XII: Psalms - Renewing The Heart In The Godly Man's Battle Of Faith Through History"

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) This bulletin came in from New Tribes Mission regarding their efforts to free two male missionaries who are being help captive by a band of guerrillas in northern Columbia. It reads: "Hostage Update - November 16, 1995 - There has not been much a ctivity to report over the last month. It has been a time of simply plodding to maintain contacts and stay in touch with government entities. A sizable and well written new article was published in northern Columbia in the wake of the wives' visit to that region in September. Violence continues to rack that northern area, making it difficult for progress to be made in gaining information about our men . . . "

Here is a case where committed Christian missionaries, family men who are missed by wives and children, who have given themselves to discipling needy people in far off Columbia, are being held hostage in a seemingly endless, dangerous crisis. Question: what are the supporting churches, family members and missionary officials able to do to HANDLE the obvious emotional and mental FATIGUE that such a PROLONGED crisis takes on them?!

(2) One of the members of our church has been assigned the job of serving as an emergency medical technician in an area of Connecticut where ambulance drivers usually wear bullet proof vests! EMTs have to buy their own vests, and since they cost hund reds of dollars and he will be there only for a number of weeks, he will work there without a vest! Question: how will he, how will his family, how will we as a church DEAL with the day by day FATIGUE on emotions as this church member works at risk on a daily basis for weeks?!

How do we, how have the saints through the ages, handled the FATIGUE of it all!



(We turn to the sermon's "Need" section . . . )



Need: "Both in our Bible Synthesis study to date and in my life as a Christian, I have seen a CONSTANT struggle between good and evil that WEARS my inner man down! Is there relief and energy to KEEP ON keeping on for God's cause? If so, where? H OW?!"
  1. The Psalms address the emotional and mental needs of God's people through the ages in their PERSONAL battles against evil.
    1. Though God created the world and set man up as His deputy, sin deposed him, so Satan became the ruler on earth, Gn. 1-5; 2 Cor. 4:4.
    2. This failure also shifted the believer's experience from being wholesome to that of great DRAIN on his soul! (Rom. 8:22-23)
      1. On the one hand, God kept promoting His kingdom on earth through history in order to destroy Satan's rule here:
        1. God renewed history through the Noahic flood, Gen. 6:1-9:7.
        2. Yet, Noah's descendant, Nimrod, began an apostasy, witchcraft, opposing God's rule on earth, Gn. 10:8-10; 11:1-9; Rev. 12:1-3.
        3. God chose Abraham to start a nation to check it, Gn. 12:1-3.
      2. But internally, the struggle to correct history has taken its toll on the hearts and souls of God's people, wearing them down!
        1. The nation Israel that God produced through Abraham went through numerous crisis events with mixed success in countering Nimrodian apostasy, Gen. 12:4-1 & 2 Chronicles!
        2. The wear of these crises built up emotional and mental debts in the hearts of believers throughout history!
    3. Thus, God provided the Psalms to fill these heart needs in men:
      1. Since art appeals to man's feelings, God used the psalms as a vehicle to address the inner man's needs, B.K.C., O.T., p. 790.
      2. The psalms direct the faithful toward solutions to spiritual wear:
        1. Each psalm arises from the faith-building assumption that the sovereign Creator will set up His rule on earth, Ibid., p. 788.
        2. As the godly face sinful opposition or physical setbacks to their roles in forwarding God's rule on the earth, the psalms identify specific trials and their resulting burdens and teach the faithful specifically HOW to have God handle them, Ibid.
        3. As the primary triumph or final victory is expressed, the psalm ends with hope, Ibid. (Many of the psalms express praise and thanksgiving just to uplift others who suffer!)
  2. The Psalms add great depth to the "thread of redemption" by exposing the PERSONAL battles of the prophecied Messiah in HIS advancing the Kingdom as a MEANS of helping US in OUR trials!
    1. The Psalter's Messianic predictions show Christ in a trial of suffering PRIOR TO His reigning as King AND Priest! (Psalm 2:7; 16:10; 22:1-31; 69:21; 41:9; 68:18; 72:10-11; 110:1-7 and 118:22-23)
    2. For example, Ps. 22:1-31 (NIV) teaches us from Messiah's sufferings at Calvary how to find strength for our inner man in our trials:
      1. While close to death on the cross and feeling the agony of bearing the world's sins, Jesus urgently cried out Psalm 22:1! (Mtt. 27:46)
      2. BUT WHEN he actually died, Jesus CONVERSELY jubilantly applied Ps. 22:31's final phrase (Jn. 19:30; Mtt. 27:50) to example HOW the godly can find inner balm in their distresses (1 P. 2:21):
        1. Psalm 22:1-18 predicts the pain of Messiah on the cross!
        2. Verses 19-21a foretell Messiah's appeal to the Father for help.
        3. Psalm 22:21b-31 shows God's solution to the crisis of the cross, including (1) Messiah's resurrection (v. 24), (2) His appearing to His disciples (v. 22, 24), (3) His being proclaimed through the Gospel to Gentiles (v. 30-31b) and (4) the redemption of Israel, final resurrection, and Kingdom, v. 23, 29, & 26-28 respectively.
      3. While going over Psalm 22 on the cross and deeply anticipating the fact that we, who would yet be born would be saved and praise God FOR His current suffering (v. 31a,b), instead of quoting v. 31c to say "He (God) as done it," Jesus shouted the application, "It is FINISHED!" He thus exampled the use of Scripture in the mind to counter the wear on the inner man in our war against evil!
Application: To handle the great emotional and mental drain on the inner man in the battle against evil, (1) believe on Christ to become a child of God to enter His care of the soul, Jn. 3:16; Rom. 8:31-39; He. 13:20. (2) Then fellowship with God to enjoy His aid through (a) confession of sin (1 Jn. 1:9) and (b) dependence upon the Holy Spirit for behavior and THOUGHT control, Gal. 5:16-23 with He. 9:14b in light of Ps. 22! (3) Then, like Christ Who used Psalm 22 on the cross, AS we face an emot ionally, mentally draining crisis, ponder the psalms and let the Holy Spirit guide our haggard thoughts and feelings toward God's insight that creates blessing!

Lesson: As none of us believers will face the depth of Christ's sufferings on the cross, and since HE went from emotional and mental DISTRESS to sheer TRIUMPH by applying an applicable psalm to the crisis at hand, we also will find balm by applying the psalms in our times of heart needs!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the lesson . . . )

 (1) It has been discovered that the reading of the psalms has an unusual and unexplained calming effect on psychotic patients in mental hospital wards! The medical technicians cannot explain it, but it works. (2) While serving as an Assistant Chaplain at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, I once read the 23rd psalm to a believer who lay dying of cancer, and whose bed was surrounded by his grieving family. He passed away as I read verse 4 about walking through the valley of t he shadow of death! He died in great peace!

(3) When New Tribes Mission sent out its bulletin update on the status of two of its adult, male missionaries who were captured by a guerrilla band, it concluded with this hope: "We continue to pray that rumors we've heard over the last few months, st ating that our men are alive and well, are indeed true. However, there is one thing that we do know and are encouraged in. OUR GOD REIGNS! He is in control and is working all this somehow for His glory and our good. Although our hearts ache and frustrations plague us, let's keep on praying . . . "

What clearly shines through this news bulletin is this same idea expressed in the Psalter's lament psalms: in spite of the current crisis, hope in the final deliverance by Almighty God to keep on keeping on!

God gave us the psalms for the nurture of the inner man in the spiritual wear and tear of the battle of faith on earth. We should USE them for help and encouragement!