Sermon Outlines . Volume 02 | Issue 10

A Personal Look at Psalms

These outlines are taken from Michael Catt’s sermon series on A Personal Look at Psalms. Messages can be found at www.sherwoodbaptist.net/bookstore.

Mahatma Gandhi – You Christians have in your keeping a document with enough dynamite in it to blow the whole of civilization to bits, to turn society upside down, to bring peace to this war-torn world. But you read it as if it were just good literature, and nothing else.

45% of American Christians claim to read the Bible.
12% claim to read it every day.
55% don’t even open it during the week.

FACTS ABOUT PSALM 119:

  1. It is the longest chapter in the Bible. 176 verses.
  2. It is arranged according to the Hebrew alphabet. The 1st eight verses all begin with the letter aleph. The next eight begin with the letter beth. GOD’S ABC’s for living. There are eight lines for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
  3. It was arranged this way to make it easy to memorize. It is also a poetic device.
  4. All but five verses contain a synonym for the Word of God.
  5. There are eight different expressions used to describe the Word of God. These eight are woven together to give us a picture of every aspect of the Word of God.
  1. THE FIRST KEY TO PERSONAL VICTORY IS KNOWING GOD HAS MORE FOR ME THAN I CAN IMAGINE.
      Psalm 119:1-2 –
  2. THE SECOND KEY TO PERSONAL VICTORY IS WALKING IN OBEDIENCE TO WHAT GOD SAYS.
      “blameless” -vs. 2 “Seek Him with all your heart” -Jer. 29:13 –
    1. In the Word, you will find the WAY OF THE LORD.3,4
    2. In the Word, you will discover THE WILL OF THE LORD.
      vs. 1 – law –
  3. THE THIRD KEY TO PERSONAL VICTORY IS PRAYING SCRIPTURALLY.A. OUR PRAYING SHOULD RESULT IN A COURSE OF CORRECTION. vs. 6 –B. OUR PRAYING SHOULD RESULT IN DAILY DYING TO SELF. vs. 5 –
  4. THE FOURTH KEY TO PERSONAL VICTORY IS IN PRAISING GOD WITH MY LIFE AND LIPS.Charles Spurgeon – He who prays for holiness will one day praise for happiness.Jimmy Draper – He does not accept praise that is based on a sinful life. Neither does He accept an individual that comes without confession of sin. That is why many people are not happy coming to church. They don’t get anything out of it. That speaks volumes about their relationship with God.Four characteristics of His praise:
    1. IT IS CLEAN.
    2. IT IS CORRECT.
    3. IT IS REFLECTED IN OUR PRODUCT.
    4. IT IS TO BE DONE WITH CONFIDENCE.
    Warren Wiersbe – In The Bible, heart refers to the inner person, and that includes the mind…It also includes the will. In other words, when you give your whole heart, mind and will to the Word of God, it starts to put your life together.

PERSONAL SIN AND THE WORD OF GOD
Psalm 119:9-16

Donald Grey Barnhouse – If sin comes into the life of the believer, he should immediately become concerned about it. It should cause him to rush to the Lord in confession and repentance, and it should cause him to build every bulwark possible against the recurrence of the sin.

Ps. 51 – Seeking Forgiveness.

Ps. 119 – Seeking Holiness.

  1. THE WORD OF GOD MAKES US AWARE OF SIN.
    1. SIN AND SHAME ARE INSEPARABLE. ? The message of the Cross is a message of SALVATION & SHAME. ? The shame/spitting/abuse/mockery that he bore was mine – not His.
    2. SIN WILL ALWAYS TAKE YOU WHERE YOU NEVER INTENDED ON GOING.
    3. SIN WILL ALWAYS GRASP FOR MORE.
  2. THE WORD OF GOD EMPOWERS US TO AVOID SIN. HOW CAN I AVOID SIN?
    1. USE YOUR MIND
    2. EXERCISE YOUR WILL. POSITIVE: vs. 30 – NEGATIVE: vs. 101 -Dr. Chris Wright – That is why we have so little repentance and so little forgiveness. When you reduce a person’s responsibility, you remove the very first opportunity they have to step back towards repentance and forgiveness and grace.
    3. PUT YOUR HEART INTO IT.
  3. THE WORD OF GOD GIVES US THE ANSWER TO SIN.Psalm 119 is not about legalism.THE LANGUAGE IS RELATIONAL.

PERSONAL STRUGGLES AND THE WORD OF GOD
Psalm 119:81-88

  1. THE CIRCUMSTANCES BEHIND THE STRUGGLE.A. He is reproached and despised.B. He is a victim of the system.
  2. HIS REACTION TO THE STRUGGLES.A. He reacts to the system.B. He reflects on his situation and God’s truth.
  3. HIS RESPONSE TO THE STRUGGLE.
    1. He acknowledges his situation.
    2. He admits his personal struggles.
    3. He asks for an intervention.
    4. He acknowledges his determination.
    PERSONAL GUIDANCE AND THE WORD OF GOD
    Psalm 119:97-105Bernard Edinger – Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.When we come to this topic in Psalm 119-it is clear the Psalmist understood the relationship between the Word of God and the Will of God.

GOD’S WILL & GOD’S WORD ARE INSEPARABLE.

  1. LESSONS FOR WALKING IN GOD’S WAY.Often when you see the word ‘way’ in the Old Testament it is referring to THE DIRECTION OF A PERSONS LIFE.ON THIS JOURNEY CALLED LIFE, GOD EXPECTS US TO WALK IN THE WAY OF THE LORD.
    1. You discover the WHAT of God’s way.
    2. You discover the HOW of God’s way.
      1. I quit trying to live life ON MY TERMS.
      2. I admit there are NO SHORTCUTS.
      3. I submit to the WAY OF GOD.
      4. I commit to doing what GOD SAYS.
    3. You discover the KEY to God’s way.
    Ps. 119:97-104 – The Psalmist is on an intense learning curve:
    He is committed to EXCELLENCE.He desires to know THE MIND OF GOD.I Sam. 18:14 – David behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him. 18:30 – David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants.He has no desire to learn EVERYTHING BY EXPERIENCE.He is awakened to the SERIOUSNESS OF SIN.
  2. LIGHT FOR WALKING ON DARK ROADS.Light DISPELS DARKNESS.
    Light REVEALS.
    Light GIVES DIRECTION.
    Light GIVES ASSURANCE IN THE DARK.
    Light results in PRAISE AND WORSHIP .Vance Havner – Years ago in the days of the old camp meetings a preacher set out after the evening service to find his way along the edge of a dangerous cliff to the cottage where he was to spend the night. He had no lantern and flashlights were then unknown. An old farmer, sensing the preacher’s predicament, lighted a bundle of pine fagots and handed them to the minister saying, “Take this, it will light your way home.”
    “But what if the wind blows it out?”
    “It will see you home.”
    “But if the rain extinguishes it?”
    “It will see you home.”
    “But what if it burns out before I get there?”
    “It will see you home.”
    And see him home it did.
    Long ago my parents put into my hands the Word of God. They told me that it would be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. There have been times when the winds threatened to put out its glow and the storms seemed almost to overcome it. There were times when I was tempted to lay it down and make my way unaided. But I am almost home-and I have never been more sure of my torch. I pass it on to you. It may look old-fashioned in this nuclear age but man’s little flashlights are failing fast and more poor souls are groping in the darkness than ever before. Let the critics scorn and the cynics laugh-this kindly light will lead you on “o’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till the night is gone.”
    It will lead you home.

PERSONAL COMMITMENT AND THE WORD OF GOD
Psalm 119:57-64

Ron Dunn, “Surviving Friendly Fire” — A person of integrity believes in virtues rather than values. It was in the 1880’s that the atheistic philosopher Nietzsche, began to speak of ‘values’-In his thinking, there is no good and evil. No virtue and vices. There exist only values. Values assume that all moral ideas are subjective and relative, mere customs and conventions.

In the book The De-Moralization of Society the author says: “Values, as we now understand that word, do not have to be virtues: they can be beliefs, opinions, attitudes, feelings, habits, conventions, preferences…whatever any individual, group, or society happens to value, at any time, for any reason.”

  1. HE WAS CONVINCED BY THE LOVE OF GOD.TWO CHARACTERISTICS/VIRTUES BIRTHED OUT OF UNDER-STANDING THE LOVE OF GOD.1. OBEDIENCE2. WITNESSINGWhen Martin Luther stood before the Diet of Worms, to answer to charges of heresy for his writings – it was a dangerous time. He could have been executed for standing against the “official” church. Luther spent the night before in prayer. When asked to retract his writings on justification by faith, he said, “Since your most serene majesty and your high mightiness require from me a clear, simple, and precise answer, I will give you one, and it is this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the councils, because it is clear to me as the day that they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or by the clearest reasoning – unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted – and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the Word of God, I cannot and I will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other. May God help me. Amen.”
  2. HE TRUSTED IN THE WORD OF GOD.
    1. It would stand THE TEST OF TIME.
    2. It is the STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT for life.
    3. It is TRUE.
  3. HE WAS COMMITTED TO THE GOD OF THE WORD.
    1. He THOUGHT IT THROUGH.
    2. He received HIS INHERITANCE.
    3. His decision was ONCE AND FOR ALL.