Delivered from Death

1.16, I'm going to read it out loud for us.

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 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.

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.

For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

I believed.

Even when I spoke, I am greatly afflicted.

I said in my alarm, all mankind are liars.

What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

O Lord, I am your servant.

I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.

You have lost my bonds.

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people,

in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem.

So praise the Lord.

I don't know if any of you guys have had a close shave with death.

Yeah?

Tell us about it.

One time I almost choked on steak.

But like I literally was not breathing.

But we had PMT over for dinner that night.

So she actually did a time look on me.

Praise God.

Not a very great story, but it was really scary.

It must have been scary.

What was going through your mind?

What was going through your mind after you were saved?

Thank God Angela was here.

Yeah.

What a not coincidence, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I like ran up to the fridge to get water

because that's what my 12-year-old self thought would be the best thing for me.

And Angela was like, come here.

And so she was like doing the high look and it didn't work the first time.

I was like, I'm going to die.

Oh my gosh, I'm going to see Jesus.

Goodbye world.

But then it came out.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's great.

Yeah, it's a great story.

I think you guys probably heard of our story when we spun out of the highway

because of black ice.

That's probably the closest we ever came to it.

It's like a...

And then afterward, it's just that relief.

Like you think you might die and then you don't.

And it's just that relief, overwhelming sense of relief.

And then not much else matters at that point.

Like I don't care that my car's totaled.

My family's okay.

You know, like it's like a...

It's like...

So the psalmist, like that kind of context,

it's because the psalmist has just had a very close shave with death.

Hey John.

We're in Psalm 116.

Your shirt still looks new.

How's that possible?

We're not special occasions.

You don't wear it enough.

You wear it enough too much.

I sleep in my mind.

And so the psalmist has had a close shave with death.

And he's experiencing this sense of relief.

And he's remembering how God delivered him in verses 12, verses 1 to 11.

And then in verses 12 to 19, which is kind of the second half,

he's speaking about rendering to God the vows he made when he was in trouble.

So remembering God's deliverance and then rendering his vows to the Lord.

So in the first part, verses 1 to 11,

it's about remembering God's deliverance.

And it begins this way in verse 1.

I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.

And we see this over and over again through our scripture.

God doesn't hear us because we love and serve him.

We love and serve him because he hears us, because he loves us,

because he has shown his mercy.

We love him because he first loved us.

And so the key to greater love for God always is remembering God's deliverance.

So if we don't love God, if we don't feel zeal for him,

if we feel lukewarm in our affections,

if we feel ourselves getting bigger and bigger in our lives

and we're having less of God in our lives,

we need to remember God's deliverance.

And this section has a roughly chiastic structure.

That's a mirroring symmetrical structure.

And so you can see that clearly in verses 2 to 9.

So verse 2 says,

I will call on him as long as I live.

And that mirrors verse 9.

It says,

I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

And then verses 3 to 4,

which recall how the psalmist cried out to the Lord,

deliver my soul from the suffering and threat of death.

That mirrors verses 7 to 8,

which say,

you have delivered my soul from death.

So just similar concepts, ideas,

and mirroring.

And not all of us have experienced close shave with death,

but all of us as Christians have experienced

God's rescue from the spiritual death

that the Bible describes, right,

over and over again.

Ephesians 2.5 says that we were all once dead in our trespasses,

but made alive together with Christ.

So we're people who, by definition,

have passed from death to life.

And it was more than just a close shave, right?

We were actually dead in our trespasses and sins.

But Christ delivered us

while we were rotten to the core,

spiritually speaking,

corpses.

Christ delivered us from death

by dying on the cross for our sins

in our place

so that we might be redeemed.

We might be counted as righteous.

And the logic of Psalm 116

is that those who have been delivered by God

from death

should live for God in life.

And we owe Him our lives.

We live because of Him

so we should live for Him.

And the spiritual life we experience here and now

because of Jesus Christ

like the eternal resurrection life

that we will have in the future

are to be lived in worship of God.

Our life is to be life of worship.

And what God has done for us

is all the more amazing

when we remember who God is

and who we are.

And that's what verse 5 and 6 are getting at.

Verse 5 is an affirmation of who God is.

And verse 6 is a statement

of our relative unworthiness before God.

Verse 5 says,

Gracious is the Lord and righteous.

Our God is merciful.

In contrast, verse 6 says,

We are simple.

We were brought low.

But because God is gracious and merciful,

He saved us.

And this is in stark contrast

to our human friends and allies.

He says in verses 10 to 11,

the psalmist says,

I believed,

even when I spoke,

I am greatly afflicted.

So he's saying,

even when I was crying out to God,

I am greatly afflicted.

He believed in the Lord.

And he's saying,

I said in my alarm,

all mankind are liars.

And so,

this is the first part of that.

Verse 10 is cited in Paul's letter

to 2 Corinthians 4,

2 Corinthians 4:13–14

verses 13 to 14,

where he says that

in spite of the affliction

that we experience as Christians,

suffering that we experience in life,

we believe,

he says,

and so we also speak,

knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus

will raise us also with Jesus

and bring us with you into his presence.

So even in the midst of great affliction,

like the psalmist is going through,

even when our experience

in our present life

is just suffering

and tribulation,

we can still persist in faith

in God's ultimate deliverance.

So when the psalmist was in desperate need,

no man came to his aid.

Their promise of friendship

and loyalty proved empty.

So he declared,

all mankind are liars.

But God,

he is true.

God,

he is faithful.

Gracious is the Lord

and righteous

and God is merciful.

It's similar to kind of

what Paul writes about

toward the end of his life

in 2 Timothy 4,

2 Timothy 4:16–18

verses 16 to 18.

He says,

at my first defense,

this is his trial in Rome.

At my first defense,

no one came to stand by me,

but all deserted me.

But the Lord stood by me

and strengthened me.

So I was rescued

from the lion's mouth.

The Lord will rescue me

from every evil deed

and bring me safely

into his heavenly kingdom.

So this is a really

wonderful promise.

Our best friends

might betray us,

right?

Our fathers and mothers

might reject us.

Our spouses might leave us,

but God is faithful

and true.

All mankind are liars,

but the Lord,

he is gracious and true.

And so we can cry out

like the psalmist,

I believe,

even when I spoke,

I am greatly afflicted.

And because of God's

unchanging character,

that's why we can have

unwavering faith,

even in the face of death,

both physical death

and spiritual death.

Even when we experience

tragedy, tragedies,

defeats in our lives,

we can have faith.

I believe,

even when I spoke,

I am greatly afflicted.

And after remembering

God's deliverance,

in verses 12 to 19,

the psalmist speaks

of rendering his vows

to the Lord in worship.

And he begins

with the rhetorical question,

what shall I render

to the Lord

for all his benefits to me?

I love that it's phrased

as a rhetorical question

because it kind of conveys

that sense of

there's nothing I can do.

Like, there's nothing

I can do to repay,

to render enough

to God

for what he has done for me,

for all the benefits

that I have enjoyed.

What shall we render

to the Lord?

Yet even though

we can't repay,

we have to respond somehow

because we can't help ourselves.

So the psalmist answers

the question himself

in verses 13 to 19.

And that too

is structured symmetrically

like the first section.

So verse 13,

he speaks of

lifting up the cup of salvation

and calling upon

the name of the Lord.

And then that matches

verse 17,

which speaks of

offering the sacrifice

of thanksgiving

and calling

upon the name

of the Lord.

So this is a picture

of worship at the temple.

Lifting up the cup

is a libation offering,

wine offering.

Offering the sacrifice

is probably an animal sacrifice,

thanksgiving.

And then verses 14 and 18

are exactly the same.

I will pay my vows

to the Lord

in the presence

of all his people.

So the first section

dealt with what God has done.

And this section

is dealing with

how we should respond.

We have to pay our vows

to the Lord

in the presence

of all his people.

A vow is a voluntary

but a binding agreement.

We enter into it voluntarily

but once we've made it

it's binding.

And so a believer

in this situation,

the psalmist,

has said to the Lord,

Lord, if you deliver me

from this threat,

I vow to do such and such

for your glory.

And so by entrusting himself

to God's deliverance,

the psalmist has put

certain obligations

upon himself

as a worshiper of God.

And this is explained further

in verse 15 to 16.

Precious in the sight

of the Lord

is the death of his saints.

That's verse 15.

This is sometimes

misunderstood by people.

It doesn't mean

that God is pleased by

or eager for

the deaths of his saints.

Come on, more people.

Come die for me.

You know, it's like

that's not what

this is talking about.

The word precious

is used most often

throughout scripture

to refer to precious stones.

And the word means

rare, costly,

weighty.

So it's the exact opposite

of what pagans

in the ancient world

frequently said.

And what they said was,

whom the gods love

die young.

Because they want

these people to be with them

because they love them.

So they make them die young.

So that's what

the pagans said.

But this is the exact opposite

of that.

The psalmist is saying

that the death

of one of his people

is not something

that God brings about

flippantly.

It's rather something

that's weighty to him.

It's serious to him.

It's significant to him

and costly to him.

We are valuable to him

is what he's saying.

And that's why

he saved us.

Verse 16,

O Lord,

I am your servant.

I am your servant,

the son of your maidservant.

You have lost

my bonds.

So in the

bonds

referred to here

is probably

the same snare

of death

mentioned in verse 3.

So God

loosed him

from the bonds

of death.

And by crying out

to him for salvation,

by crying out to God

that he would free us

from the bondage

of death,

we have put ourselves

under a certain obligation.

We become his servants.

Or rather,

because we are his servants,

God responds

to free us

because we are his people.

And according

to Exodus 21,

Exodus 21:4

verse 4,

the children of slaves

belong to the master.

And so this

is referring

to that concept.

As heirs

of the servants

of God,

the slaves of God,

we too belong

to God.

We are the chosen people,

his elect.

We are his servants.

And for that reason,

because of our relationship

to him,

we're valuable to him.

And so God

intervenes

to free us

from death

and so that we might

be free to serve him.

What Paul talks

about in Romans 6,

but thanks be to God

that you who were

once slaves of sin

have become obedient

from the heart

to the standard of teaching

to which you were committed

and having been set free

from sin

have become slaves

of righteousness.

So we are slaves of God,

right,

according to this passage.

We were bought

with a price.

And as the property

of God,

we are to practice

absolute obedience,

total submission,

and exclusive preoccupation

with his purposes

and priorities.

Sometimes we're uncomfortable

with that kind of language,

but that's the reality,

right?

So as Christians,

brothers and sisters,

we have to ask ourselves,

right,

are you preoccupied

with pleasing your master?

Is that what consumes you?

Or are we merely

pleasing ourselves

with our lives?

Because nothing else

loosed our bonds.

It was the Lord,

God who loosed our bonds.

God loosed our bonds.

God purchased us

with the blood of Christ

and so we belong to him.

And those who have been

delivered by God

from death

should live for God

in life.

That's really the main point

of this psalm.

Let's respond to that

with the song.