Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.09UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.08UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.62LIKELY
Sadness
0.54LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.64LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.72LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.87LIKELY
Extraversion
0.03UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.63LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.73LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
It is encouraging to remember that God has recorded His people’s failures in His Word along with their victories.
For we, too, fail God far too often.
In the Old Testament, David is probably the most prominent example of a believer who sorely failed the Lord due to sin.
In the New Testament, Peter stands out.
We are helped by their stories when we come short, disobey, and fail the Lord.
The history of Israel in the Old Testament is a story of repeated failure.
Those failures are summarized in Psalm 106.
Psalm 105 and 106 are similar in a number of ways.
Both are history lessons.
Both are written to the returning remnant from the Babylonian captivity.
But they are also different.
Psalm 105 addresses the remnant after they returned to the promised land;
Psalm 106 addresses them while they are still in Babylon.
The key difference between the psalms is the perspective from which they examine Israel’s history:
Psalm 105 reviews Israel’s history with a view to God’s faithfulness to Israel.
Psalm 106 reviews Israel’s history with a view to Israel’s unfaithfulness to God.
At its core, however, the theme of Psalm 106 is God’s faithfulness to His people.
It proclaims the encouraging truth that God’s unfailing love overcomes our failures.
I. Praise and Give Thanks to the Lord
(106:1–3)
As the psalmist prepared to point out the sins of his nation throughout her history, he stated his purpose for writing the psalm:
he was writing to praise and thank the Lord for His everlasting mercy toward His people.
Time and again, Israel had been unfaithful to God.
Yet in spite of her many failures, God had always been faithful to His chosen people.
A. God Is Good
(vv.
1–2)
The psalmist declared the goodness of God toward humanity.
Our sins and failures do not change God’s nature.
He is good even to those who reject Him, even seeking to bring them to repentance (Ro.
2:4; Mt. 5:44–45).
God’s goodness to His people is seen through His mercy, His faithful, unfailing love (v. 1).
In addition, His love for us will never end.
In His righteousness, God judged His unfaithful people by allowing their enemies to invade them and take them captive.
But in His unfailing, covenant love, He brought them home again.
His everlasting mercy prevailed over His nation’s sin.
Throughout Israel’s history, God had also demonstrated His goodness through His mighty acts (v.
2).
The extent of the Lord’s powerful deeds in His people’s behalf could never be fully conveyed or understood, nor could His people ever praise Him enough for the great things He had done for them.
B. The Just and Righteous Are Blessed
(v. 3)
Because God is perfectly just and righteous, He is the champion of the oppressed.
In His time, He judges all who abuse, persecute, or mistreat others.
On the other hand, He blesses all who keep or honor justice (judgment) and who live righteously, according to God’s commands.
“If Israel had done this, she would have never gone into exile.”
As the remnant rebuilt their society, they needed to keep this truth ever before them.
Psalm 106 begins with the word that is the same in every language:
Praise(halal) the Lord (Yah)—Hallelujah!
We should praise the Lord daily and give thanks for His …
goodness (v. 1)
Every day of our lives, God showers His blessings on us.
He does many good things for us as a routine part of our lives.
Too often, we are all guilty of failing to recognize and acknowledge His faithful acts of lovingkindness.
mercy (v. 1)
No matter how many times we may fail Him, the Lord never gives up on us.
Every morning, His mercies are new (Lam.
3:22–23).
Nothing can separate us from His conquering love (Ro.
8:35–39).
mighty acts (v. 2)
In addition to God’s everyday blessings, occasionally He does something unusual for us, something out of the ordinary, something spectacular and, at times, miraculous.
God can do far beyond what our finite minds can imagine, so on occasion, He releases His mighty power for our benefit (Ep.
3:20).
blessing (v. 3)
He rewards us when we live righteously.
Because the Lord is just, He will not forget our efforts to love others and obey His commandments (He.
6:10).
II.
Ask God Not to Forget You
when He delivers His people.
(106:4–5)
The psalmist believed God’s wonderful promise, that He would release His people from captivity after seventy years (Je.
25:11; 29:10).
With a deep longing for his homeland, the psalmist asked God not to forget him when He delivered His people.
A. You Need His Help
You need to be rescued as well (v.
4).
Knowing that he would never leave Babylon without God’s help, the psalmist expressed his longing to be rescued with the people of God.
He needed God’s help, for he did not want to die in Babylon.
Therefore, he prayed that God would let him live long enough and keep him healthy enough to return to the promised land.
Sadly, relatively few of the Israelites shared His desire, as only a remnant returned.
B. You Want To Follow Him
You want to share in His people’s prosperity and joy (His inheritance) and praise Him with them (v.
5).
Having spent his life as a stranger in a foreign land, the psalmist dreamed of what it would be like when God’s people returned home.
He passionately wanted to be among those who followed God back to Jerusalem.
He longed to see God’s goodness and prosperity fall on His chosen people once again.
His homesick heart ached to share in the joy of the faithful—God’s inheritance—when they jubilantly glorified God for bringing them back home.
The psalmist yearned to receive every promise that God had given His people.
He deeply desired to receive the full measure of God’s favor.
What a strong example for us to follow!
We, too, should have that earnest desire to receive as many of God’s blessing or promises as possible.
We need to remember that many of God’s promises are conditional;
they depend on whether or not we are faithful.
Since we cannot be faithful without God’s help, we ought to ask for God’s help daily, lest we become unfaithful to Him and miss His blessings.
First, we should ask God to help make us holy.
God’s richest blessings are promised to those who separate themselves from sin and walk in righteousness.
Then, we ought to ask God to help us become strong in faith and patient in trials.
It is through faith and patience that we inherit God’s promises.
Christ came to give us abundant life (Jn.
10:10).
As we walk in Him, we can have the fullness of His joy and blessings, all of which are promised to those who faithfully follow Him.
III.
Confess your sins
(106:6–42)
Humbly acknowledge that you are guilty even as your forefathers
From Babylon, the psalmist reflected on the sins of his people through the centuries.
As he traced the failures of his forefathers, he confessed the sins of his generation, humbly acknowledging that they too were guilty, just as their ancestors had been (v.
6).
A. Rebellion
ignoring and forgetting God
Ex. 14:10–31 (vv.
7–12).
Even as the Lord was delivering the Israelites from Egypt, their rebellious hearts were exposed.
When fleeing Egypt and facing the Red Sea, the people feared Pharaoh’s pursuing army and rebelled against Moses, God’s chosen servant (v.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9