Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Nobleboro, Maine
August 2, 2020
Psalm 25
SHOW ME YOUR WAYS
I. How do you react in a crisis?
A. It might make you think about God.
In 1951, comedian Red Skelton and a party of friends were
flying to Europe, where Skelton was scheduled to appear
at the London Palladium.
As they were flying over the Swiss Alps, one of the airplane's
engines failed.
Nowadays passenger planes are designed to fly quite well on
only one engine but back in the 1950s it was very different.
The situation looked very grave as the plane lost altitude and
the passengers began to pray.
Skelton went into one of his best comic routines to distract
them from the emergency.
But the plane continued to come closer and closer to the
ominous-looking mountains.
At the last moment, the pilot noticed a large field among the
precipitous slopes and made a perfect landing.
Skelton broke the relieved silence by saying, "Now, ladies and
gentlemen, you may return to all the evil habits you gave up
twenty minutes ago."
#33170
B. In Psalm 25, David is in trouble.
1) As often in the psalms, the circumstances are vague.
a) He has trouble on the outside - he mentions enemies.
1> Do you have any enemies? Famous people often do.
Last Saturday actress Olivia de Havilland died at
age 104.
Her enemy was her sister, Joan Fontaine.
As children, Olivia would scare Joan by reading
the crucifixion passages from the Bible to her.
Later, she broke Joan's collarbone.
In 1942 both were nominated for Best Actress Oscars,
but only Joan won.
Joan said she half-expected her sister Olivia to
lunge across the table and rip out hair.
After their mother died, Olivia didn't invite Joan
to the funeral.
Each blamed the other - and each claimed there was
no problem at all between them! [1]
2> David had a high position so he always had enemies.
3> Right now he seemed to have more than usual,
and the intensity was greater.
"See how my enemies have increased and how
fiercely they hate me." 25:19
b) He has trouble on the inside - his own sins.
1> We can all relate to this.
2> Once again, he doesn't give specifics. Few of us
do.
3> Did he feel a moral fall was imminent?
2) Whatever his exact situation was, it was stressing him out.
a) He felt lonely and afflicted. 25:16
b) His heart was anguished. 25:17
c) Some believe this describes a major depression.
A friend named Scott had a funeral this week.
It was for a man named Carl.
He was 77 and had 8 grandchildren and 5 great-grands.
Carl took his own life.
Scott wrote me, "Depression can really push on people
pretty hard."
C. David did not do this. He turned to God in a permanent way.
1) He doesn't make a 20-minute vow but asks for something
deeper.
a) He wants to really know God.
b) He wants to live the right way.
2) How do you react to tough times? To quarantine times?
a) This psalm can give you some pointers.
II. David wants God to show him the way. 25:4-5
A. Some Christians see this as a plea for God's guidance.
1) We all have times in life when we want to know which choice
to make.
2) Moving to a new location, picking a spouse, making
an investment are some examples.
3) We want God to make the decision for us so it won't go
wrong.
B. It is more likely David is asking for life guidance.
1) He doesn't want specific guidance but the more general kind:
a) How should I live as a believer?
b) How can I learn to make wise decisions?
2) He wants God to teach him how to be more mature.
a) Most Christians are too lazy for this.
b) In his book "Fit Bodies, Fat Minds," Os Guinness says
Christians are more interested in diet regimens
than deep spiritual thinking.
We prefer the "boob tube" to good books.
Guinness calls it the "idiot culture."
#16852
3) David wasn't an idiot.
a) He wants God to instruct him.
b) It is tragic that our society puts so much emphasis on
education, and getting multiple degrees, but we are
very lax about being wise about life.
c) Let God teach you - get into his Word.
III. David wants God to remember him. 25:6-7
A. He knows God has been good to him in the past.
1) David often experienced a special closeness to God.
2) God's love was not something he always deserved, which
is why he valued God's mercy so much.
3) What God had done for him in the past, David wants him to
do again.
a) Think about your own spiritual history.
1> Was there a time you felt especially close to God?
2> Did you have a greater joy in your life?
b) Ask him to bring you to that place again.
B. David doesn't want God to remember some things.
1) It is fine with David if God forgets the sins of his youth.
2) How bad were you as a teenager?
a) I was a boring teenager.
1> I was a product of the "oldest child syndrome," did
well in school, was an Eagle Scout...
2> Most of my kids were trouble-free as well, though
our youngest, Josiah, got interesting on occasion.
b) Some young people cause lots of excitement.
1> The combination of peer pressure, feeling invincible,
and a lack of personal responsibility, causes
many young people to do bad things.
2> Behavior is very powerful in shaping beliefs.
Baptist leader Albert Mohler refers to an article
in the New York Times that suggests the views of
Americans, of all types, are based on
self-interest.
"[This] helps explain why three-quarters of people
who went to church as children don't attend
church in their 20s.
The young people most likely to abandon the church
are those engaging in the kinds of lifestyles -
involving alcohol, recreational drugs,
premarital sex and nonmarital cohabitation
- that religious conservatives condemn."
Christians recognize that worldview determines
behavior.
What we believe is inevitably played out in our
lives.
But we must also recognize the contrary is also
true - our behavior often affects our worldview.
This is what all sinners do.
Sinners want to justify their sin and in order to
accomplish this they try to realign their
worldview in order to create moral
justification for their behavior. #64622
c) King David was a young man once.
1> He must have been more than a little wild, because
those youthful sins haunted him.
2> He would rather God forget those.
C. Fortunately, God is a good forgetter.
1) Jeremiah 31:34 says, "I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
2) People are not as good at forgetting.
Fred Snodgrass was a successful baseball player for
the Giants.
But in the 1912 World Series, he dropped a pop fly.
Because of his error the Giants lost the game and
the Series.
62 years went by.
Fred became the mayor of Oxnard, California.
He was successful banker and rancher.
He raised a good family.
But when he died in 1974, the New York Times printed
this headline over his obituary:
"Fred Snodgrass, 86, Dead;
Ballplayer Muffed Fly in 1912."
People don't let you live down your mistakes.
#2235
3) God is different - he forgives us and he forgets.
a) That is what his mercy is all about.
D. Oh, and there are some current sins, too. 25:11
"For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity,
though it is great."
1) We prefer to think of our failures as a past blemish.
2) But most of us sin just as defiantly in old age as when
we were teenagers.
3) Take a close look at your heart.
IV. There is one more thing for God to remember. 25:7
A. David says, "Remember ME."
1) Our God is a personal God.
a) The details of your life matter to him.
b) To ask God to remember you is to ask him to come near.
2) But you are also admitting that you need to reach for him.
B. David knows what God expects of him.
1) He has to be humble.
"He guides the humble in what is right." 25:9
2) He has to respect God.
a) The fear of God is mentioned twice in this psalm. 25:12
b) Take God seriously.
3) He has to be obedient.
a) Verse 10 says that God is loving to "those who keep
the demands of his covenant." 25:10
b) If you are knowingly violating God's moral commands,
you cannot expect him to bless you.
4) He has to attain integrity and uprightness.
a) At the end of the psalm, in verse 21, David looks to
his integrity to protect him.
b) Hand in hand with being forgiven, he expects to turn
his life around and live consistently for God.
V. You can trust God with your life.
A. Our lives can be very fragile.
1) A while back I was Googling the word "crisis" and came
across a special Facebook page.
2) It is called "Died-by-suicide-memorials" and it's an
endless collection of photos of those who have taken
their own lives.
a) They are just normal photos like you see on any
Facebook page. People are smiling, doing things.
b) But the heading of each one says something like
"Ian Atchison, age 12."
It dawns on you that every one of these people is
dead, by their own hand.
c) I was appalled at how young most of them were. [1]
B. Life can be tough but it is still worth living.
1) Verse 21 of the psalm says, "My hope is in you."
(This psalm uses that phrase three times.)
2) Do you have hope in life?
a) Have you let financial or health fears take over your
life?
b) Are you confident God cares for you and will help you?
c) Do you know where you are headed?
d) If you are not sure, you can be...
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
This sermon is a reworking of one I gave on November 9, 2014.
[2] https://www.facebook.com/pages/Died-by-Suicide-Memorials/110170072352548,
accessed November 8, 2014.
See also: < https://www.kstatecollegian.com/2012/01/17/manhattan-woman-campaigns-to-the-break-silence-about-taboo-subjects-of-depression-suicide-after-12yearold-son-took-own-life/>.
# 2235 “They Never Forget the Muff,” Rev. Eric Ritz, Dynamic Preaching,
<http://www.sermons.com>, Spring 1992, from the sermon “Do You
Have A Forgiving Spirit?” The original source seems to be
Maxie Dunnam, Perceptions (Bristol Books).
Sermon #16852 “The Divine Tutor,” Rev. Scott Hoezee, Calvin Christian
Reformed Church; Grand Rapids, Michigan, <http://www.calvincrc.org>
#33170 “What To Say If Your Plane Is Crashing,” Wit And Wisdom by
Richard G. Wimer, August 16, 2006. This event is corroborated in
several internet accounts of Skelton's life, though the original
illustration embellishes it by saying three engines were out.
#64622 “Our Worldview Reflects Our Behavior,” Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.,
President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
<http://www.albertmohler.com/2014/11/05/what-the-election-reveals-about-us-and-why-we-vote-as-we-do/>,
November 5, 2014. Mohler is referring to Jason Weeden and Robert
Kurzban, "Election 2014: Your Very Predictable Vote," New York Times,
Monday, November 3, 2014.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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