Study

Happy In Spite Of

August 9, 2018 by in Study

Text:

Psalms 51:7-13:

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

 

Theme:

Happy In Spite Of

 

Introduction:

  • The Book of Psalms is the 19th book of the Old Testament and 2nd of the books of poetry. It is known to be the longest book of the bible with 150 chapters and contains the longest chapter of the bible, the 119th chapter of Psalms.  Psalms is also organized in five divisions.
    • The author is David, the God-Appointed King and originator of the Davidic line of Kingship and rule in Israel.
    • Psalms is a book of praise and song consisting of verses that were rhythmically relayed in song as in poetry.
    • Psalms can be divided into 6 classes based on their content:
      • Hymns of praise to Jehovah
      • Temple hymns
      • Religious and moral songs of a general character
      • Elegiac psalms, that is, lamentations, psalms of complaint, generally united with prayer for help
      • Messianic psalms
      • Historical psalms
  • Our text is couched in Psalm 51 which finds David seeking relief spiritually and emotionally!!
    • He wants to be clean, happy, restored, renewed, supported and rededicated to his commission!
  • Our primary text is focusing on verse 8 which is David’s desire to be HAPPY!
    • Everyone wants to be HAPPY!
      • A quote by Anne Frank once said, “We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.”
      • So many situations, success, mistakes, encounters and frustrations are all in the “pursuit of happiness”
        • We are all caught at some point saying… “I just want to be HAPPY!”
    • Happiness seems to come at a cost!
      • A basic philosophical concept is that there cannot be light without darkness…happiness without some sadness!!
        • Carl Jung once said, “There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”
      • The Bible even reflects the same principle of there being darkness with light, sorrow with joy, weakness with strength…
        • Both are from God à Isaiah 45:7, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”
        • Both exist, one from flesh and one from His Spirit à 2Corinthians 12:10, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
        • God ordains one to triumph over the other à 2Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
      • THEREFORE, our happiness must be IN SPITE OF the other “junk” that exists in and around us!!
        • We must be HAPPY IN SPITE OF

Body:

  • “Make me to hear joy and gladness”
    • Make me to “hear”
      • God can!
        • Isaiah 50:5, “The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.”
      • God will!
        • Revelation 13:9, “If any man have an ear, let him hear.”
      • To “hear” is to go a step further than to just “have”
        • “Hearing” something means that it is louder than anything else
        • Metaphorically speaking, David was praying that God would make joy and gladness “louder” and more prominent than his sin and shame!
          • Turn from evil à Isaiah 7:15, “Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.”
          • Seek Good à Amos 5:14, “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.”
          • Good triumphs à Romans 12:21, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
    • Why joy and gladness?
      • Joy à Nehemiah 8:10, “…for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” è yield STRENGTH
      • Gladness à Proverbs 10:28, “The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.” è yield HOPE
      • Joy and Gladness are a common pair mentioned in the Old Testament.
        • But, it is prophetic of the advent of Jesus in Luke 1:14 when the angel told Zechariah, “And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.”
  • “that the bones which Thou hast broken”
    • How are our “bones” broken?
      • “Bones” represent our stability or strength à What hold us up?
      • “Bones” being “BROKEN” metaphorically speaks to being…
        • Tired
          • Jesus saw this in Matthew 9:36, “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”
          • But Paul reminds us in Galatians 6:9, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
        • Tired of
          • Moses got tired of the people and their waywardness in Exodus 32:19, “And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.”
          • But David reminds us in Psalms 121:1, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.”
        • Broke down
          • Paul lets us know in 2Corinthians 4:8-9 that, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;”
          • But Paul again reminds us in 2Timothy 2:3, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
    • God allows “our bones to be broken” è God’s Permissive Will
      • Yes, God did it!! à “which Thou hast broken”
        • Jeremiah said the same thing of God in Lamentations 3:4, “My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.”
      • GOD ALLOWS à Man’s FREE WILL
        • The Doctrine of the Freedom of the Will of mankind is the “manward” component of the Doctrine of Salvation where the Doctrine of Election is the “Godward” component.
        • Election à God Elects some but allows WHOSOEVER
          • John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
          • Matthew 22:14, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
        • Free Will à Man has the freedom to make choices independent of God’s direction/power
          • John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
          • God allows us to have a choice
      • Because of Free Will, GOD ALLOWS à SIN
        • The heart and mind of man is what is used to make choices, but Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
        • We all will sometimes choose sin!
          • Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
      • God sometimes ALLOWS what He would not actively will or provide…but it is still within His Will for us in our lives
        • God through GRACE will ALLOW what the LAW will not.
        • God through SOVEREIGNTY will ALLOW what the CONSCIENCE will not.
        • God through OMNISCIENCE will ALLOW what the MIND will not.
    • Unlike us, Jesus’ “bones” were not and could not be broken!
      • The prophecy confirms in Psalms 34:20, “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.”

Conclusion:

  • But there is joyous purpose to being BROKEN è “that the bones… may rejoice”
    • It is in our brokenness that we are glorified in Him!!
      • The Word of the Lord appeared to Jeremiah to explain this in the context of the Potter’s House
        • 1)Potter made a vessel
        • 2)The vessel was marred (imperfect or broken)
        • 3)The potter took the vessel and made it over again
      • It is made plain in Jeremiah 18:4, “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”
        • I thank my God that He…
          • 1)Made me in His image
          • 2)Saw that I was “born in sin and shapen in iniquity”
          • 3)Took me one Wednesday evening and MADE ME OVER AGAIN!!!!
    • These broken bones can REJOICE!!!
        • He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs!!
        • He held me when I thought that I could not be held!!
        • He fixed me when I thought that I could not be fixed!!
        • He saved me what I thought that I was not able to be saved or worthy of being saved!!!
    • I AM HAPPY IN SPITE OF…
      • What folks tell me
      • What bill collectors tell me
      • What my mind tells me
      • What my flesh tells me
    • I AM HAPPY IN SPITE OF…being “broken”

#376

Recommend
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Plus
Share
Tagged in
logo