The Best Sermon You'll Ever Preach — Jim Cymbala

I have the strangest thing to tell you here called The Best Sermon You'll Ever Preach. Not the best sermon I'll ever preach. The best sermon you'll ever preach. And not only do I want to tell you about the best sermon you'll ever preach, I want to tell you who you're going to preach it to.

A woman on the subway? No. The best sermon you'll ever preach, you'll preach to yourself. But I'm going to tell you not only that you're going to preach it to yourself, but I'm going to give you the sermon.

You know, preachers now don't have to study the Bible much. There's all kinds of software, and you can get sermon material, and you can just preach somebody else's sermon. I have a dear friend who's written over 300 books.

He went to a church in Florida, unbeknownst to the minister, and the minister was preaching one of his sermons right out of one of his books. And he said it was a series, and he was preaching the chapters that my friend wrote.

And the guy was preaching, not knowing that every point and every word he's saying, the man who wrote it is sitting in the auditorium. So he said, last week we covered this, and today we're covering that.

And then my friend's wife tapped him and whispered in his ear, and next week's going to be even better, I can assure you. But I have a sermon for you, I have the words for it. How many want to preach a sermon?

Come on, lift your hand. To yourself. Did you know that some of the most important sermons that we have and words that we speak are not to other people, it's what we speak to ourself. You say, Pastor Simba, are you trying to say we should talk to ourselves?

You know what happens to people who talk to themselves. They get picked up and end up in the G building or someplace. No. One of the complexities of life is that you often have to talk to the other side of your being.

Psalm 42 and the Honest Cry of a Troubled Soul

Listen, this is it, I'm going to give you the sermon. There's a famous psalm that begins like this. Most of you know it, and when I start it, you're going to say, oh, I know that psalm. And it begins like this.

It says, as the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, oh God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet God? That starts out good, right? We're talking about God, this is Psalm 42.

But then the psalmist, like the rest of the Bible, is very honest. And the psalmist begins to make a turn and pour out his heart to God. And listen to what he says. My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, mockingly, where's your God?

Hey, where's your God? While he's crying day and night, the psalmist, we don't know his name, it's for the sons of Korah, who were worship leaders in the temple. The psalmist is saying, my soul is panting for you, God, but I want to tell you what I'm going through.

Day and night, all I can do is cry. While men say and mock me, like, where's your God? Where's your God helping you? These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.

Somehow, this psalmist has been separated from Jerusalem and the temple, and where he would lead the people in worship. So, we don't know what happened, but he's honest, and he's saying, God, I believe in you, and I love you, but I got to tell you the truth.

Day and night, this thing is killing me. I'm crying inside. And I got surrounded by smart alecks who are mocking me, and they're saying, hey, where's your God? How come God hasn't helped you yet? Boy, the Bible is honest, isn't it?

And he said, and then I remember how, back in the day, I used to lead the people, but now, for some reason, he's been separated from the temple, and he can't worship, and he can't lead the people anymore, and his soul, his soul is being poured out to God, and he's being deeply affected, and then he says the sermon that I'm going to make you memorize.

Why are you downcast, oh my soul? Why are you so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. But it's not over. Later on, he says, I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me?

Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? My bones suffer mortal agony, he's using poetic language to talk about this trial he's going through, as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, where is your God, and then he repeats.

Why are you downcast, oh my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. What's happening here? Well, first of all, the Bible's very honest, and this psalmist is a man who trusts in God, but is going through something he can't explain.

Have you ever gone through something, audience, that you couldn't understand? You couldn't make head nor tail of it? It didn't add up, you don't know why? There's no sin in his life, he's not, he's looking inside and he says, I have no idea why this is going on.

I'm being taunted, I'm going through like a mental, emotional anguish. People are mocking me, and it's affected my emotions and probably his nervous system, and then he steps back, and he speaks to his soul.

Speaking Hope to the Discouraged Soul

Look at me as I close. Sometimes you have to talk to yourself. Your emotions and your mind can get weak, and you can start to give in to discouragement. I just met with a woman upstairs, and she said, I'm ready to quit.

I'm ready to quit. She's going through a valley. She said, I'm telling you the truth. She's a member of the church for years. I'm ready to quit. I didn't look at her and say, what? I thought you were Christian, what do you?

You can never quit. You gotta talk to your soul. The psalmist now gets inspired, and the better part of him, the part that remembers God and the blessing of God, his spirit with him rises up and talks to his emotional, mental part of his personality, which is now being cast down and so discouraged, and he says, why are you so cast down, my soul?

Why are you so disturbed within me? He's talking to himself. I'm gonna yet praise God. Put your hope in God. Soul, put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God, and then he repeats it twice.

Haven't you ever had moments like that? How many know exactly what the psalmist was talking about? Just lift your hand. Sometimes you gotta talk to yourself, and you gotta say to yourself, wait a minute.

Hey, Jim, why are you so cast down? Why are you so discouraged? Why are you so depressed inside? Put your hope in God, Jim. Jim, put your hope in God. Hasn't God helped you in the past? He's gonna help you again.

You're yet gonna praise him. Oh, I don't see how I could praise him. You're gonna yet praise him. The day is coming when you're gonna praise him. Right now, you're going through it, but you're gonna praise him.

Why? He's your Savior, and he's your God. So I wanna give you a sermon. You're gonna memorize it. Some of you need to say it to yourself tonight. And when you can't trace his hand, trust his heart. And great is thy faithfulness.

His mercies are new every day, but sometimes you just go through stuff. You just go through stuff. What must have John the Baptist gone through when he was thrown into prison? What did Paul do when he was thrown into prison?

Joseph, Paul, and the Trials That Test Faith

What did the psalmist and some of the other people in the Old Testament, what did they go through? What did Joseph go through when he had visions and dreams about what God was gonna do? And then his brothers tried to kill him, and he sold down the river, and he ends up being lied about by a woman, a potter for his wife, and now he ends up in jail.

Can you make any sense of that? Can you make any sense of that? Should that happen to Joseph? No, that should happen to his brothers who tried to kill him. But he's the one in prison. And the Bible says the word of the Lord tried him.

It tested him. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna give in to what you see, or are you gonna put your hope in God? And I bet Joseph, long before any psalmist ever wrote that in Psalm 42, must have said to himself, why are you so cast down, my soul?

Why so disturbed within me? How many have gone through times, be honest, since you're a Christian, that there's just an inner churning, and there's just like an attack of fear, and you're disturbed inside?

And you know you love God, you know he saved you, and he's been good to you, but you're under attack. Come on, lift up your hand if you ever, well, here's the sermon. Why are you cast down, oh my soul?

Say that. Why are you cast down, oh my soul? Say it again. Why are you cast down, oh my? Why so disturbed within me? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God. Come on, say it out loud. Put your hope in God.

Who's he talking to? Himself. He's not telling somebody else. That's a good thing to do, too. Sometimes that's what's called a word of encouragement, or a word of exhortation. You tell somebody else. Don't quit, don't give up.

Sometimes you gotta say it to yourself. Put your hope in God, for I'm yet gonna praise him. You little old depressed heart, you disturbed little emotions, you mind that's ready to give in, you're still, I'm still gonna praise God.

I can't figure it out right now how he's gonna do it. I don't know why I'm going through this, but I am not gonna be disturbed. Come on, let's put our hands together. I'm gonna put my hope in God. Put your hope in God.

Choosing Praise Before Deliverance

Now say this sentence. For I will yet praise him. Say it again. For I will yet, one more time. For I will yet, my Savior and my God. Come on. How many have been through hell and back, and God saw you through up till today?

How many were ready to quit and give in, but God didn't let you go down the drain? Come on, wave your hand at me. So when you get discouraged, now you got a sermon. I learned a sermon from Pastor Cimbala.

And it's the best sermon you or I could ever preach. Better than anything I could ever say to anyone else. I gotta remember to say that to myself. Because how can you help anyone else if you've gone down the drain yourself?

So you say to yourself, why are you cast down on my soul? Why are you so disturbed within me? Why all these negative thoughts? Why all this talk of quitting and giving up? And where's God? Put your hope in God.

Come on, heart, put your hope in God. Come on, get up and put your hope in God. Begin to praise him, heart. Come on, begin to praise him. For I will yet praise him. He's gonna come through and do something that I can't even imagine.

You know, one of the guys from the prison in Angola said, when you're in a hopeless situation and you lose hope, that's a very sad situation. You never lose hope. If you gotta preach to yourself, preach to yourself.

Why are you cast down on my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God. Don't look at the situation. Put your hope in God. Don't trust your uncle, your aunt. Don't trust your job. Because then when that's taken away, then what are you gonna trust?

Put your trust in God. For I will yet praise him. Oh, I like that part tonight. I will yet praise God. That's what you gotta say. I will yet praise God. For I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Encouragement for Those Ready to Quit

Close your eyes with me. Today's a day of God encouraging people. But I wanna say to anyone here who's ready to quit and at your wits end and you don't know why and you got people mocking you, you got people attacking you, the psalmist was honest.

He said all of that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that we could remember it and learn from it and be encouraged. When you're down, talk to yourself and say, get up. Get up, my soul. Put your hope in God.

Why are you quitting? Why are you giving up? Hasn't he helped you in the past? He's gonna help you again. Don't believe the lies of the enemy. Where is your God? God is just waiting to break through at his time and his way and you will yet praise him.

Anybody here say, pastor, that's for me. I'm saying that to my soul tonight because I came in the building ready to just like, I don't care if it's just one. You just stand. If you say, I came in the night like so bewildered.

I don't know what's going on. One trouble to another. You just stand up. This is a word of encouragement for you. You just stand up and let God know, not me. Let God know. God, I'm not quitting on you.

You never quit on me. Why would I quit on you? So I'm saying to my soul, why are you so disturbed within me? Why are you so cast down, oh my soul? I'm putting my hope in God. Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him.

I'm gonna praise him. Right now I got some tears and it's a little hard, but I will yet praise him. I will yet see him deliver me out of this situation. There's one thing he can't do is fail, my savior and my God.

Corporate Confession and Prayer

Everybody in the building, repeat after me. Why are you cast down, my soul? Why are you so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him. My savior and my God. Dear God, we trust you tonight.

We have a lot of questions. We don't understand everything. But one thing we know. You love us. And you are on our side. And you're gonna bring us through. And we will yet praise you. In the land of the living.

We say this in Jesus' name. Amen. Everybody put your hands together and shout hallelujah while you're clapping. Let me hear a little noise. We say hallelujah to you, God. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Everybody, you got your sermon? You got it? Remember who to preach it to. Everyone now turn around and hug five or six people. Come on, everyone hug someone.