“You Saved My Life”
[Psalm 116:1-8]
April 18, 2014 Second Reformed Church
Today is called, “Good Friday.” It’s the day that we remember that Jesus was
unjustly arrested, illegally tried in three courts, tortured, and crucified –
and died. Why do we call this day
“good”?
We are looking at the first half of
Psalm 116 – the author is unnamed.
We see in the first half of this
psalm:
The Lord answers the prayers of His
people.
The Lord listens when His people cry
out to Him in distress.
The Lord is our salvation in life.
The Lord is our salvation in death.
“I love the LORD, because he has
heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because
he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”
The psalmist tells us that he loves
the Lord because the Lord heard his voice.
The psalmist tells us that he loves
the Lord because the Lord had mercy on Him – the psalmist loves the Lord
because He showed him unmerited favor.
The psalmist tells us that he loves
the Lord because the Lord inclined His ear to him.
The Lord answered the prayer of the
psalmist. When the psalmist was in
distress – even to the point of death, as we shall see – he prayed to God, and
God answered Him, and showed Him mercy, and delivered him from whatever it was
that put his life in such distress and danger.
So, the psalmist tells us that he
will call on the Lord as long as he lives.
Since the Lord answered him and inflamed his love for the Lord through
answering his prayer, the psalmist turned to prayer when he needed the mercy of
God.
The same is true for us, is it
not? Jesus taught us how to pray and the
author of Hebrews reminds us that we can come boldly into the throne room of
God to ask of Him as His children.
Jesus certainly prayed – we read of
His praying throughout the Gospels – going off by Himself to spent time in
prayer with His Father. In those last
hours on the cross, we find two prayers recorded:
“And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do’” (Luke 23:34a, ESV).
“And about the ninth hour Jesus
cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:46, ESV).
The Lord listens when His people cry
out to Him in distress:
“The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the LORD: ‘O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!’”
The psalmist tells us that he was
trapped in the “snares of death” – he was overwhelmed by the feeling that he
was unable to escape from the death that was upon him – he saw no reason to
believe that he would be able to survive whatever was occurring.
The psalmist tells us that “the
pangs of Sheol” grabbed him – the pain of the grave grabbed him – he could feel
his life descending into the grave.
The psalmist tells us that he
suffered distress and anguish – it surely looked like the end for him – and then
he called on the Lord to deliver him.
Our Father is waiting for us to call
to Him in our distress. He is with us and
walks with us even through the valley of the shadow of death, and we are
comforted by His rod and His staff. Even
if the answer He gives us is “wait” or “no.”
Crucifixion is still considered one
of the most horrifying and painful ways to die.
As Jesus hung on the cross, He was
trapped in the “snares of death.” He
felt the pain of the pull of the grave on Him as His Blood flowed out of His
wounds and it became more difficult to keep breathing. And He cried out:
“When Jesus had received the sour
wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’…” (John 19:30a, ESV).
“Then
Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit
my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46, ESV).
We need to remember that these were
cries of victory – even though death was upon Him – He had won. Jesus had endured the Wrath of God for the
sins of everyone who would ever believe – ending with His physical death.
The Lord is our salvation in life.
“Gracious is the LORD, and
righteous; our God is merciful. The LORD
preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD
has dealt bountifully with you.”
Unlike Jesus, the psalmist did not
have to endure death at this point in his life.
No, God heard his prayer and saved Him.
God showed how gracious He is in extending the salvation of the life of
the psalmist to him. The Lord showed
that He is righteous in dealing with the psalmist as He did saving him in this
life according to His good and holy will.
And the Lord showed His mercy is not bringing the psalmist to death in
that moment.
The psalmist tells us that the Lord
preserves the simple – the Lord preserves those who are humble about their
circumstances – even though it be great peril.
For none of us deserves salvation.
All that we receive from the Hand of God is a gift. So, when the psalmist was brought low – even
near to the grave, God saved him and restored him to his life – a gift of
salvation.
The psalmist tells us that He was restored
such that his soul could rest. He was no
longer shaken – looking into the grave – by his circumstances, but God heard
his prayer and in His Righteousness – in grace and mercy – God chose to deliver
him in this life – to deal bountifully with him – as He has with us all, has He
not?
Has God short-changed any one of
us? Has God neglected to give us some
good thing that we deserve? Or have we
received so much more than we could possibly have imagined, given our sin, that
we can rest and be satisfied in all that God has done for us? Has not God even delivered us from disastrous
situations in this life?
The Lord is our salvation in death.
“For you have delivered my soul from
death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;”
The psalmist tells us that he was
delivered from death – whatever it was that was upon him, God mercifully
removed and let him live.
The psalmist tells us that his eyes
were delivered from tears.
The psalmist tells us that his feet
were delivered – God kept him stumbling – either in his feet or into sin in
that moment.
He was saved, and we may think of
the final salvation, remembering these words, “[The Lord GOD] will swallow up
death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the
reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has
spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold,
this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation’”
(Isaiah 25:8-9, ESV).
The Lord answers the prayers of His
people.
The Lord listens when His people cry
out to Him in distress.
The Lord is our salvation in life.
The Lord is our salvation in death.
Why do we call this day “good”?
Paul explains in one of his benedictions: “May you be strengthened with all power,
according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance
of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and
transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:11-14, ESV).
This day is called, “good,” – and we
do well to give everlasting thanks to God – because through Jesus’ Death, Jesus
completed part of the gracious work that He set out to do to deliver us from
the reign of Satan over us. We were
slaves to the prince of lies, and we have been saved from his dominion over us
through Christ suffering and dying for our sins.
Not only that, we have been
transferred from slavery in the devil’s domain to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ,
the Beloved Son of God, through Whom we are redeemed. Christ’s Life and Death were traded in to God
that we would be brought back to God – reconciled – made right with Him – as
sons and daughters – our sins have been forgive through Jesus and we are now,
through the imputation of Christ’s Righteousness – through the crediting to our
accounts of Jesus’ perfecting keeping of the Law of God – also seen as holy. We are living this life now, striving for
holiness, and looking forward to His Kingdom coming in all its fullness.
On this day, we rejoice that the
Lord saved the psalmist in this life and in the life to come and that He will
do the same for all those who believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, help us to see and
receive the Work of Christ for our salvation.
Let us call out to You and cry to You for our daily needs and distresses
and for all the hopes of our future – in this life, and in the Kingdom. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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