"The devotion of the rescued"

So if you'd like to, turn to Psalm a hundred and 16, which is page 616 in the Bible. Psalm a hundred and 16. I love the lord for he heard my voice. He heard my cry for mercy see. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave overcame me. I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the lord, lord save me. The lord is gracious and righteous. Our god is full of compassion.

The lord protects the unwary. When I was brought low, he saved me. Ret turn to your rest for my soul for the lord has been good to you. For you, lord, has have delivered me from death. My eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the lord in the land of the living.

I trusted in the lord when I said I am greatly afflicted. In my alarm, I said everyone's a liar. What shall I return to the lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the lord. I will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people, precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his faithful servants.

Truly, I am your servant lord. I serve you just as my mother did. You have freed me from my chains. I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the lord. I will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the lord, in your midst, Jerusalem.

Praise the lord. Good morning, everyone. I'm Bart. I'm pastor here at Hope Church. It's great to open up god's word together just before we do.

First off, thank you to those involved in, yesterday's away day was a really good day, lots of fun. And, you know, it was a brilliant time, and you you saw some of the highlights, it was really good. And as as being said, next year, if you weren't there, come along. We'll have, we'll have a good time again. Just to say where we're heading in terms of our sermon series, so, within our little sermon series in the book of Psalms, just to to say where where we're going, so you can kind of go by month So, May, we're we're sort of in Psalms.

June, we're gonna do a series in gospel about gospel community. So as we, have got together in May, and then in June, we're we're meeting together as in gospel communities, that's what what we're calling our small groups, mid week small groups. And we're gonna do a little series on gospel communities. How does the gospel shape us, into communities? How does it change the way we relate to 1 another.

So that's roughly June. And then July, we're gonna get into the beginning of the book of acts because there, we see the gospel proclaimed and the gospel shaping community. So that's how that's gonna link together. So roughly May is psalms, June is gospel communities, and July's acts, and it sort of roughly works that way just so you know where we're heading. So let me pray for us as we come to this Psalm.

Psalm a hundred and 16. Let's pray to it. Father, we thank you again for your word, and we pray please now as we look at it as we read it as we engage with it. So you would work in our hearts by your spirit, to teach us, to shape us, to change us, to be the people you want us to be, amen. There's a big difference between knowing something is true, hearing about something, and then actually experiencing it.

We, as a family, quite a few years ago, we went to, record to Disneyland in Los Angeles. And before we went, there were quite a few people who said, what an amazing time you're gonna have, and describe the kind of things that we were likely to see, the, the parades, the incredible parades, and then the rides that you could go on. And then the evening experiences of seeing the water show or the fireworks depending on on which 1 you saw. And, however, well, they described it, it's nothing quite like actually being there. And seeing it and experiencing it.

And you will have experienced this. Maybe not in that, but maybe in other things that you might have heard people describe great mountain scenery, but it's nothing like actually being there and seeing it or a sporting event or a sporting, location where you you've heard about it. How great it is, but actually being there is something different. Well, in this Psalm, the writer of the psalm, and we don't know who the writer is, but the writer tells you about an experience where he went from knowing truths about god to experiencing them in his life. And this psalm is part of him praising god and saying, this is what god is like.

I know it, inexperience, and particularly in a deliverance that he experienced. And we don't know exactly what the deliverance was. It doesn't tell us exactly what it was. And therefore, as for this sum, we can apply it to quite a few situations in our life. Lives of the lord's rescue because it doesn't tie it to 1 particular situation.

Now, the Psalms encourage us to relate to god with our emotion This Psalm, the Psalmist is overflowing with praise to God. And the Psalms encourage us to relate to god with our emotions. Some of us will respond with more emotions, some with less. But we are to relate to god with our emotions. It's true that sometimes churches or Christian conferences can manipulate emotions.

Maybe you've been in those kind of situations, where the music particularly lifts at a particular moment, and everyone is caught up with it, with the emotion of it, and it and it it can be overwhelming. And yet, actually, it's really just that the sound desk moved the volume up a bit, and the whole room is caught up in it. And that can feel like, well, that's manipulation. That's not what we're called to. But that doesn't mean that then we just ignore emotions as Christians.

After all, we are called to. We are instructed to commanded to love the lord our god with all our heart and soul, and mind, and strength with everything that you are, you are to worship god and love god, and that's gotta include your emotions. So we don't want manipulation, but we do want to worship god with all that we are, and the Psalms help us to engage with the lord, with the emotions of life, with every emotion of life. And we saw last week, Andrew preached for us from Psalm 88, very helpful sermon. How bring us, to engage with god in the dark times, because that's Psalm.

Psalm 88 was a Psalm which starts in the darkness, and ends in the darkness. It ends with darkness as my closest friend. And sometimes that is what life feels like that we are just in the depths, and there are psalms, which help us to relate to god in those times. But this Psalm doesn't feel like that at all. It begins with verse 1.

I love the lord. For he heard my voice. He heard my cry for mercy because he turned his ear to me. I will call on him as long as I live. This is a Psalm which exigzuberant in its love of the lord.

Because of the lord's rescue. There's reason for this overflowing of love for the lord. It is this rest skew. Now who can sing this Psalm? Who of us can sing this Psalm?

Well, I I want us to apply it as we go through in 2 ways, sort of on 2 levels. There is a way in which everyone who's a Christian can sing this Psalm, because it is a Psalm about deliverance. And every Christian knows of god's deliverance, because we have all, if we're Christians being delivered from sit, and we'll come on to that. But the second level that we can apply this is if there have been particular times in your life, when you have experienced some kind of deliverance, some kind of rescue, maybe from a sickness or an accident or something else. And we mustn't downplay the significance of those moments.

We should recognize them, see them as they truly are. Deliverances that the lord has given to us, and we should relate to god with thanks and praise and love for those times too. So we're gonna think as we go through on those 2 levels, all Christians can praise god for their deliverance, but maybe there are particular things, particular rescues that you can praise god for. So we're gonna have 2 points as we go through, and they split the sum into 2 halves. And the first is might need you to do it.

There you go. First is love ignited by god's deliverance, and that's verses 1 to 11. Let's go through this rescue that the Psalmists describes. First of all, we see the deadly danger that he was in. So verse 3.

If you've got your Bible open in front of you, page 6 1 6, verse 3. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me, and was overcome by distress and sorrow. So this is a person in mortal danger. Says the cords of death entangled him. It's quite a good to description is a bit horror film like, isn't it?

Yeah. That death was entangling him, drawing him to the grave. A bit like you can imagine if you've seen the Lord of the Ringsfilms, Gandalf, clinging on the edge of the path, and the monster falling down into the abyss, and his whip just catches round Gandalf and pulls him down into the abyss. And that is the image you've got here of this person who death is entangling around him drawing him to the grave. And so he cries out.

First 4, then I called on the name of the lord. Lord save me. This is the cry of someone who knows that they are in a helpless situation. They can't get themselves out, and so it is a simple cry, a simple prayer of lord, save me. Now, like I say, we can apply this on those 2 levels.

All Christians can join in with this because a Christian is someone who not merely ticks off a list of theological truths, and, yes, yes, I agree with those. But he's someone who knows that without god's intervention, they would, too, would be dead. Our sin, our rejection of god puts us in mortal danger. As Ephesians 2 says, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Death had wrapped itself around us because sin had caught us completely and was dragging us down to the grave.

That was our condition, and the Christian knows it. Not merely in a passionate way. Like, you might do math sums and end up with a negative figure and go, well, life ends up negative. No. It is something that hits our hearts, a dread of the grave, a dead a dread of appearing before god with our sin's still on us.

We know without god's work, we would perish for eternity. And so we need to cry out to the lord lord's saviors. But as I say, we can all apply this on the level of other times of despair. Maybe you know the anguish of a desperate situation. Maybe you've known it in the past.

For you or a family member, an accident, medical urgency, financial tragedy, relationship disaster. You've known that feeling of being in a terrible situation, and knowing you can't get yourself out. It's all going wrong. The world is being turned upside down for you. And you've cried to the lord.

Lord save me. And the psarmist at this point breaks off and tells us about the character of god. First 5, the lord is gracious and righteous. Our god is full of compassion. The lord protects the unwary when I was brought low.

He saved me. Somebody says, this is what god is like. And this is a description. It comes from exodus 34 as well. It's often used in the Bible to describe god.

This is the character of god. This is what he's like. Shape your understanding of god by by this description that he is gracious. That is he pours out his love on those who don't deserve it, on those who deserve his anger. God's love is poured out.

He is gracious. And he is righteous. He's promised to hear people, and he will keep his promise because he is a righteous god. And so he does hear people. And he protects the unwary.

That is a word which, could also be translated the simple or the gullible, which may maybe says something about how the Psalmists got into this terrible situation, that it was his own stupid that got him there. And we can relate to that too. That is in danger. Of running out of battery. If you need to do something, feel free.

You would just become an illustration in the scene. Now we know that. We keep do you know that feeling of knowing that it is your own stupidity that has got you into a difficult situation. Maybe you know, we know it in terms of our sin on that level because our sin is our rejection of god, and you can know that your sin actually often is, it's just we're stupid, and we repeat the same sin over and over again. And do you know that feeling of going, lord, I've done it again.

I can't believe I've done it again. I'm so stupid. How have I fallen again? How have I rejected your word again? It is so stupid.

But maybe in the disasters of life as well that you go, actually, I'm in this situation because of my own stupidity, and you can think we can think is got actually interested in us when we are so stupid. And this says, yes. He is concerned for you. And can you feel that this for this psalmist is now coming with I know this in reality. Oh, I've heard the lord is compassionate and gracious, and and so on, and so you have heard that, but now I know it in my life.

It's it's hit home. And so he speaks of the rescue verse 6. The lord protects the unwary. It he when I was brought, though, he saved me. Return to your rest.

My soul for the lord has been good to you. For you, lord, have delivered me from death. My eyes from tears, my tears, even from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the lord in the land of the living. The lord rescued him. And we know that those who come to the lord with their sin, lay it before him.

He forgives us We need to remember it cost him the death of his son, the death of Jesus to achieve it. The cords of death were cut at the cross. We are free. Free from sin because it was paid for at the cross. Free from death death because Jesus rose to life again.

And maybe you know the joy of that deliverance. Maybe you know the joy of the deliverance through other circumstances in life. The child who was gravely ill brought back to health. The marriage that was on the edge of collapse brought back the financial black hole that you were rescued from, maybe you know that experience. Now we do need to say that while we know for certain that we are rescued from sin a hundred percent when we bring it to the lord confess it to him.

In those other circumstances of life. We don't have a promise that god will always bring us out of them, that he will always prevent the tragedies in our lives. And we know that in the Bible. We see examples of that. For instance, King David prayed to the lord for his baby and yet the baby died.

We know that the lord is sovereign and loving and does what is good for us, but yet that doesn't mean he always brings us out of those tragedies, those difficulties, though he knows what he's doing, though he is good, and there are times when we just need to cry out to the lord, when they when we aren't rescued through that, we need to cry out, lord, why? And the Psalms help us to do that. There are Psalms, which help us to crowd, lord. Why? Why weren't you there?

Why didn't you answer? But there are also times when the lord says, yes, and brings us out. And this Psalm helps us to engage with that, to say, lord, you did rescue me. You got me out, and I praise you for it. When we cried out, and the answer was yes.

And why does god do it? Verse 9, did you see that I may walk before the lord in the land of the living? That's a reference to Abraham, who is described as 1 who walked before the lord. And the great purpose of deliverance is so that we may live life in relationship with the lord. That's the purpose of Jesus' rescue of us at the cross.

So we might live in relationship with god as our father. And enjoy that relationship forever. And that's the purpose why he rescues us in other circumstances in our life too. So we might know him best walk before him. He rescues us so we'll know the lord more inexperienced and go from that time living more close with him.

And yet, aren't you tempted when the law does give you those kind of deliverances in your life? Aren't we tempted to explain them away? So we're in a difficulty, and we pray to the lord, and and he brings us out of it. And yet aren't we tempted to say, oh, it turned out alright again anyway. Lord, I didn't need to bother you.

Sorry. Or when we pray about our worst fears and they don't happen, and we go Oh, it's just being silly, as if the lord isn't intimately involved in every moment in your life, and hasn't just answered your prayer. We explain it away rather than coming before god and going, you delivered me. You rest skewed me. We need to see our lives the way the Bible sees it.

See our lives through the Bible lenses to see how god is rescuing us and does so over and over again. And to praise him for it. An example, Edgar Harrell was a US marine. He was it on board the USS, Indianapolis, Indianapolis, when it sank in 19 45. It was torpedoed and sank.

He ended up in the ocean. And he says this, from his book out of the depths. He says every survivor of war has stories to tell. So Stories of triumph and tragedy, faith and fear, stories like mine, where fact is often stranger than fiction. Since that fateful night in 19 45, when I stepped off a sinking ship into the unknown depths of the sulfic ocean.

There has never been a day when I've not reflected upon the horrors I experienced in the 4 and a half days of swimming in shark infested waters. However, while those frightening memories remain vivid in my mind's eye. 1 memory eclipses them all, namely, the unfailing presence of god that sustained me. Luck had ab absolutely nothing to do with my survival. I believe with all my heart that it was solely by the providence of god that I lived through those dreadful days and nights.

He saw that rescue and saw it was the provision of god so too in your life as the lord rescues, as he brings you through things, it is all his his work. And the Psalmish reflects back verse 10 and 11 I trusted in the lord when I said I'm greatly affix afflicted in my alarm. I said everyone is a liar. It seems at the end, that he's saying that when he was in the worst situations, he sort of turned against his friends, maybe unreasonably. Me.

So that is the rescue, the deliverance that caused the psalmist to praise god, to say his love for the lord, to overflow with it, And this is our experience too on those 2 levels, that all Christians can say, yes, this was true. Me, death had caught me up. Sin and death had had wrapped itself around me. I was being dragged to the grave, but praise god. He is a gracious god.

I know in experience, he has rescued me. I wonder if you know that, inexperience. If you're not yet a Christian, do you see the danger you're in? The Bible does say we are in terrible danger mankind is, but Jesus came to deal with that situation to rescue you, will you call out to him, saying, Lord, save me. But maybe you know this in the situations of your life, the other times when you've been rescued as well.

And so maybe you sing this psalm as it were with greater heart because you go, lord. I know you've delivered me from this. Whatever it is. And so the Psalmist then says verse 12. What shall I return to the lord for his goodness to me?

It's a question coming from an overflowing heart, a heart that just wants to do something for the lord. Again, I wonder if you've experienced that through deliverances that you've gone, I lord, I just wanna do something to show how much I love you. I wanna express it in some way. And the psalmist goes on to then say how he expressed how he's gonna do it. And we've got 4 things here that we can just pick up on to say, here are ways that we can express our love for the lord.

4 of them. No. I'm gonna have to go by you again. So, could you move us on to the next? Thank you.

Love that wants to express itself. Let's go on to the next 1. First off, drink it in. First 13, he says, I will lift up the cup of salvation. Now that's an unusual expression.

It's an unusual expression in the old testament. Some take it as being a drink offering that you get to described earlier in the old testament, a kind of, sacrifice, but with drink. So it's a drink offering. I'm not sure I don't think it is that it's such an unusual expression. This cup of salvation, it seems to be maybe the opposite of the other expression, which is more common, which is to talk of the cup of god's wrath, which is talked about, the cup of god's anger.

This seems to be the opposite of that, the co the cup of salvation. And it's a lifting up not to pour it out or to lift it up like that, but it is to lift it to drink it. And therefore, what the SARS is saying is, I'm gonna drink it in this salvation. My response to got out of love for him is to say, I'm gonna take it in and enjoy it. And that's the first response, actually, is to say enjoy god's salvation, and the love that comes with it, a bit like, when an adult gives a, a child a, a present for their birthday or Christmas, the response that you really want is when they open it and go this is amazing.

This is wonderful. That's what you want. You don't want them to open it up and go, oh, I've gotta think what I've gotta give you now. Love. It was good.

But, man, I've gotta think about how to repay you with someone. No. You want it to be just enjoyed. And actually, there's something here to go, actually, part of the response to god's salvation of us, god's rescue is to go, wow. You love me that much.

Drink it in. Second. Next 1. Thank you. Call on the Lord.

First 13 again. I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the lord. Now call on the name of the lord is an expression that's come o over several times in the Psalm. So you just cast your eyes back, verse 2, because he has turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. And then when he was in the difficulty, when he was in the deaths, when he was being dragged to the grave, verse 4, then I called on the name of the lord, So calling on the name of the lord is a lord help me.

That's the that's the kind of context of it. So he's saying, I will do that more, verse 13 and call on the name of the lord. Verse 17, I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the lord. So he's saying, the response, 1 of the responses to your deliverance of me is I am going to call on you more and more and more. You see, being a Christian, knowing god's deliverance means not that we are to grow in independence of god, but that we are to grow into greater and greater dependence on him that we call out to him more.

Imagine being a beggar, going door to door, needing money, needing food. And you come to a house, you come to a door, you ring on the doorbell, and the person opens the door and is generous, gives money, gives you food and then says, as you leave, come back tomorrow. I've got more. And that is the response to god. The right response is to go, I will come back to you.

Depend on you. I will call on you. I will cry out to you again and again every day more than once a day. Part of our response actually, how how can we love go how can we express our love to god ease to depend on him more and more. Drink it in.

Call on the name of the lord. Third, give your in service to the lord. And it must come after those first 2. It's a good order of things to do. You gotta drink in god's rescue of me.

I don't do this third bit first. You gotta know god's rescue of you from your in, drink it in, call on him more. And then it is right to say, I'm going to dedicate myself to you in service. And you do see this in the Psalm. He talks about fulfilling his vows verse 14, which looks like it was sacrifice he was gonna do at the temple.

He talked to them about being the lord's servant. First 15, precious in the side of the lord is the death of his faithful servants. Truly, I am your servant lord. I serve you just as my mother did. You've freed me from my chains.

And then he talks about the offering again, verse 17. I will sacrifice a thank offering to you, call on the name of the lord. So he was obviously you're saying, right, I'm gonna I'm gonna sacrifice to you. I'm gonna serve you. What about for us?

Well, we could turn to, you don't need to look it up, but Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. Sorry I'm being called. That's suspected spam. There you go. That was a distraction, wasn't it?

We could turn to Romans 12 versus 1 and 2, which talk about, in view of god's mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices. What is the vow that we should fulfill? What is the sacrifice we should give? What is the service we should give? It is a whole life lived for god, a whole life sacrificed to the lord, and that is a totally appropriate thing to do in light of what god has done for us.

What a great joy a great thing it is. Enjoy and love, to say to the lord, take me, use me. I am your servant. Send me where you want to, to do what you want in your name and for your worry. Use my abilities, my money, my life, my all, and do what you want with it.

I am at your disposal. And for all that, and for all of us, that will mean serving wherever we are, in your workplace, in your street, in your church, in your marriage, in your family, wherever it is, going and saying I will serve you this week today, wherever it is. It can also mean being open to the lord, taking you in a completely different direction. So, actually, you get do something different. Go where I want you to.

It might mean changing job, having a job where you got less than that, but so you're freed up more to do other things, Christian ministry and other places. But for some, it might mean saying, actually, maybe you should be considering full time paid gospel ministry. It's not the only way to serve the lord. You can serve the lord in your workplace wherever you are, but maybe for some, it's saying, actually, I need to think about full time paid Christian ministry. Because there's a great need.

I know we've only just planted here. But, actually, there is a huge need in this country and abroad for people to become pastor teachers. Will youth workers, women's workers, children's ministers? Should you be considering that. And lastly so give yourself in service to the lord.

Lastly, make it public. That's what he does. The Psalmish wants to do this devotion to the lord publicly. Verse 14, I will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people. Verse 18, I will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people in the courts of the House of lord in your midst, Jerusalem.

So that others will know what the lord has done, how the lord has been, has been generous, gracious. It's a good thing to have people declaring what god has done. How the lord has been gracious and merciful to you. Either in declaring how you've been moved by his grace and his mercy in your forgiveness of sins, but also when you've seen the lord deliver you from some else in life, and to say it before the congregation as a testimony to god's love. And if you have something like that, I'd encourage you speak to 1 of the elders speak to Steve, myself, or Ben, or Robin, to say, actually, there's this that's happened, because it'd be great to have people from the front saying this is how the lord has this is what the lord has done for me and to praise him in that.

Well, I hope you've had a greater sense. The morning of god's love for you. And that in some way, in a sense, truths that you've heard about, truths you've heard in the bible, maybe you can see the more in your life. And you would go, yeah, actually, in experience. I do know the love of god and the rescue of god.

Well, I want to encourage you to worship the lord with those emotions and say, how can I do something for the lord? Well, there are 4 ways is that you can respond to the lord and his rescue of you. I'm gonna lead us in prayer, let's pray. Emily father, we praise you that your word teaches us, not just in our heads, but to our hearts, and helps us to know how to worship you with our emotions. And father, as we go through these experiences of life, as we know, your rest you of us from sin, but also as we see you deliver us in other ways, father we pray, please, that you would move us to respond in love to you for your reverence for your rescue.

And you'd help us to pour out our hearts to you to drink in your rescue that we would call on you, devote our lives to serving you and that we would make it public, we would tell others of your goodness. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.