Well, good morning, everyone. They're out in Zoom land, and those who will be listening to us later on Sermon Audio, we're back for our final week in Psalm 116. As Brother Norm will have returned for duty come next week, Lord willing. He and Nancy are set to land back here in Oregon tonight sometime.

Today, though, we're going to pick up where we left off at Psalm 116 last week. We were transitioning from verse six on to verse seven, eight, and nine. Verse six says, the Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low and he saved me. We were looking at what was meant by the Lord preserves and tying that into verse eight that says, the Lord has delivered my soul from death. Preserves, in this case, means that God actively watches over, guards, and shields believers.

The Apostle Peter speaks to this when in 1 Peter he says this, this inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last times. In all this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. The inheritance he speaks of is that living hope to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, an inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade away.

So we as Christians have the same experience of suffering grief and all kinds of trials but they will fade away. We greatly rejoice though, because of the hope that resides within us. We finished last week looking at how the second death is something we need not fear, because dying is not a death, but a promotion. We have great comfort in knowing absent from the body is present with the Lord. And as Peter says, in this we greatly rejoice.

Then we capped it all off with speaking about the spiritual death we do encounter, which is being made a new creation in Christ as we die to our old nature and are given our new nature in Him. We looked at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, which says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Old things have passed away. I ask, what is it that is often said when speaking of someone who has died? They have passed away. And that is what Paul is saying here about our old nature. The old has passed away. It has died and we have been made a new creation. We are alive in Christ.

So for this morning's scripture reading, I would like to read starting at verse six and read down through verse five. So starting at Psalm 116, verse six, the Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low and he saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, therefore I spoke. I am greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liars. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

So let's pick up our study again by turning in your Bibles to Romans 6, where we have a bit clearer, but a bit longer representation of what we're talking about at the end of last week, freedom from the second death by the life received in Christ through His death and resurrection. This reading in Romans 6 will tell us how we died in Christ, we rose in Christ, and we are alive in Christ. Paul describes how this all relates to being part of that first resurrection and how this plays a part in our own deliverance from those cords of death and the fear of the grave the psalmist was speaking to.

So reading in Romans 6, starting at verse 3, Do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died and has been set free from sin.

Set free from sin. So what Paul is saying is the entanglement with death and the grave the psalmist was dealing with at the beginning of the psalm That entanglement with the death and the grave was representative of sin. He has been freed from that, set free and made alive in Christ. That is the story of salvation. It's David's story and it's our story.

And a blessing, as a blessing of being born again and entering the kingdom of God, a person has been spiritually crucified with him, united with him in his death, burying the old self that was ruled by sin. Believers who are united with Christ in his death will also be united with him in his resurrection. That is the spiritual first resurrection we have been speaking about. This is represented by our ordinance of full immersion baptism. a portrayal of Christ and, symbolically speaking, of us dying to our sin as we are buried in water and then raised to life again, free from the burden of sin.

Of course, that is all symbolic. Baptism does not save. It just represents what the Savior did for us, dying on the cross. buried, and then raising back to life on the third day. This means for us that by faith and baptism, believers identify with Christ's death to sin and his resurrection. By being born again into a new life in Christ, we are free from the effects of all that now buried sin.

But the part that we need to see from this is how it relates to the study. Remember how the psalmist had gone from complete fear to now finding complete peace and rest in his deliverer, no longer fearful of those cords of death that had entangled him. As we read in verse three of our text, he now rests in the knowledge that his Lord has delivered him. The pangs of Sheol, gone. The anguish of the grave, gone. now distant memories since he died to his own nature and has been set free from sin and all of its consequences. That verse three, dealt with by the Lord. And for us in our verse three, dealt with by the Lord.

This theme of deliverance is repeated several times through this and many of the other Psalms. Verse six expresses that very same theme. The Lord protects the simple-hearted. When I was in great need, he saved me. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Let's take a look at what protecting the simple-hearted implies. What it is to be simple-hearted. Christ came to save sinners, not the self-righteous, not the strong-willed, not the smart, not the wealthy. Not that those things by themselves excludes one from His saving grace, but they are usually representative many times of an attitude that brings self-importance and a selfish independence and therefore a blindness to the need for redemption.

Paul brings this out in 1 Corinthians 1 starting at verse 26. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are. so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. That is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

God calls ordinary people, the simple-hearted, to demonstrate that salvation is not based on human wisdom, power, status, or as Paul himself has testified to, a self-righteousness based on the law. God chose the foolish, the weak, the despised, to shame the wise and powerful, providing no avenue for anyone to be able to boast in themselves. Paul concludes by declaring that all Christian boasting should be in the Lord, because all that we possess, our wisdom, our righteousness, our deliverance, and our redemption, all that matters, it all comes from Christ. It is His to give, and He has chosen to give it to the poor and simple-hearted.

So now, if we go back to Psalm 116, we see the theme continuing on as we move down to verses seven, eight, and nine. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

Looking at the first part of verse seven, where David is reminding himself as to where he was compared to where he has come. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

Turn, if you will, in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Paul is speaking to the church in Corinth and he is encouraging them to consider their circumstances and remember always what they have gained in Christ. Things that are eternal compared to the fleeting and temporary troubles we experience in our daily lives.

Again, 2 Corinthians 3 or 4, 16 through 18. Therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen, temporary, but things which are not seen are eternal.

As we've been reading in our texts all the verses of deliverance that the psalmist is sharing with us, we know the Lord has delivered him, body and soul, from death. We all walk a similar path of some kind as the psalmist, so we also can be assumed that we need not fear the second death for the same reason as the psalmist. We are all sinners, but saved and delivered by God's wondrous grace.

And because of that state of grace that all God's saints reside in, it's important to know we all have a common goal. After being saved, the goal of our salvation, which is being absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord. What a blessing to know that our dying is not a death, it is a promotion. As we hear often, come soon, Lord Jesus, come soon. Whether the Lord comes to us because of our passing on and meeting him in heaven, or we meet him in the air when he returns at his second coming, the spirit within us is going to say, it's about time, dear Lord, it's about time.

Since we all share in God's bountiful goodness, no matter how dark our present temporary circumstances may be, we can rest because our rest is in God's bountiful, eternal goodness. We also find ourselves walking with the Lord in the land of the living. We do well to remember what Colossians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14 have said to us in a previous study.

For he rescued 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. God guides his saints from the darkness into the light. The old has gone, the new creation has come. We have entered into the light of the world, who is Christ himself, the light of the kingdom of God, which the only access ever granted is to those who've been born again, the living.

As Christ says in John 8, 12, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. The Apostle John doubles down on this in 1 John when he says, But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

So thinking about the statement the psalmist makes about walking in the land of the living, I think it's made clear to us throughout scripture, it is the light of Christ where we find and reside in the land of the living. In 1 Peter, again, the apostle Peter says this, though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls, the things that are unseen but are eternal. things that are believed because of the faith that God has gifted each of us with. That is what we have been talking about. We share in that same blessing of remembrance of what the Lord has done for us, just like the psalmist who, in verse seven of our text, reminded himself of the time he was crying out to the Lord to deliver him. Later, he is able to say, return old soul to your rest for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

So when it comes to your soul in rest, remember we keep our eyes on Jesus. Only a few of us here now will remember what a preacher at one of our camps said many years ago. He said, when looking for a way out, for a rest, a work you must do, you are not going to find it inside of yourself, So you need to get your head out of your belly button and instead look up to Christ. He provides for us our rest, body, soul, and spirit. Nothing we have done or ever can do will bring our soul to that rest.

So we finish up with this little section of verses seven and eight. Just a few more things to look at pertaining to verse eight, where you have delivered my soul from death my eyes from tears and my feet from falling. We have pretty much covered the deliverance of the soul from death, but what about my eyes from tears and my feet from falling? Or some versions say stumbling. In the lifetime of David, there were many occasions where he weeped. He weeped when he lost his son that Bathsheba bore, he weeped at the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, and probably most notably when his own son Absalom betrayed him to the point of him wanting to do away with his father. But from what we read in Psalm 116, he was also weeping for the spiritual void he felt inside of himself. His call out for deliverance was to the Lord, not to the little G gods, but the one true God.

Very reminiscent of the call out to God by Christ from the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Like David, Jesus was feeling betrayed. He was being attacked by enemies such as sin, death, and the grave. All this had him suffering with agonizing pain. But just like David, Jesus was delivered by God. As noted by the stone being rolled away from the opening of the now empty tomb, the father, out of love for the son, had raised him back to life, just as the prophets had written.

And also because of the love of the father, David and all of God's elect were delivered from the dead by the death and the resurrection of his son. Yes, as we read earlier in the chapter six of Romans, if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in his resurrection.

We each have our own story of deliverance to tell, but in some sense or another, they all have similar paths. We were in darkness, and then God made us a new creation in Christ. We have been accepted in the beloved and knowingly, lovingly brought into the kingdom of light. The Lord deals bountifully with all of his saints.

And continuing with our looks at verses seven and nine and our deliverance from falling and stumbling feet, this, like all what we've been looking at through this study, has a fleshly application and as always, a spiritual one as well. For example, bear with me while I share a little story of my own life to help illustrate.

Like most people, I have had plenty of rough and or unpleasant times in my life. There was a time though that stands out from other times in my life where I felt I had hit rock bottom. I had feelings of hurt, betrayal, anger, fear. I just wanted to get away to try to start all over again. I roamed the states of Montana and Idaho on my motorcycle, hoping maybe to relocate somewhere, hoping that they would be far enough away from the life I was not liking.

But in the end, what happened? The Lord kept my feet planted right here in the dowels. He had introduced me to a man earlier, who was soon to be my father-in-law years down the road, who was sharing this new gospel with me. I had grown up under a gospel that did not include the things I was being told. You know, stuff like this John Calvin guy, election, predestination, and that limited atonement thing. I had somewhat accepted it, but then again, not really.

But soon I found myself reading books by the likes of Arthur Pink, Jonathan Edwards, Jay Adams, Martin Lloyd Jones, and others. I started attending church and Bible studies. And one day I was sitting at home, reading a book that months ago I would never even have thought of picking up. But all of a sudden it became very clear to me that things were very different. I had a very comforting sense that my life had been changed. I was no longer looking to run. I was content in my station. I was no longer questioning this sovereignty of God in all things. I was spending a lot of time with a group of good people that God gave me a desire to fellowship with. and a pastor who preached Christ and Him crucified, exactly what a new Christian needs to hear. Long story short, the Lord kept me right here, and I am living proof of Proverbs 16.9 that says, in his heart, man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. If I had been left in my way, who knows how much further I would have stumbled, fallen, and lied. But he kept my steps limited to right here, where I had met that one who in time would become my wife. And we went on to have a beautiful family. And I was blessed with a solid Christ-centered church with wonderful people that I had fellowship with. And now somehow I'm up here sharing the gospel with you.

Looking at it spiritually, the Lord keeps us from falling by giving us a clear, firm path to walk, a rock to stand on, who is Christ, a word to live by, who is Christ, and a light that gives us the sight to see, who is Christ. Yes, the Lord has delivered us from that death, from tears, and from falling. We are not like those that we referenced earlier in 1 Peter 2, those who stumble because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do. The Lord has directed our footsteps and keeps us from stumbling, which we all know that if left to ourselves, stumble is what we would do. The Lord has dealt bountifully with his sheep and will do so in eternity.

As we focus now on verse 9, we see where it is a continuation in verse 8. The Lord has delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. In verse 9, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living. David is saying he's going to walk with the Lord as a willing servant. The psalm itself is a prayer of gratitude for God's deliverance of him. And David is now committing to a life of service to his Redeemer. And he knows he will be able to do so as he walks before the Lord in the land of the living. For him, a place very much like a city or refuge, he can walk there in peace and free of the fear he had expressed in the very beginning of this psalm.

To walk before the Lord can be said as walking with the Lord or walking in the Lord. but all points to the psalmist committing to being with the Lord and walking with him and because of him in the land of the living. Contrast that to the state he was in just a few verses back, entangled with death, standing over the grave, but now because of the Lord's bountiful grace and mercy, he is at rest in the land of the living. What a contrast for him. The contrast is there for all of Christ, because He is the fulfillment of all God's promises to be our rock and fortress. He is our true shelter and dwelling place. He is the answer to the psalmist's cry for salvation and deliverance. He is for us our salvation, our deliverance. He rescued us from sin and death. He united Himself to us by faith in His life, death, and resurrection. He made us his own. He is our place of safety, our refuge, our strength, and our fortress.

As we read earlier in Colossians chapter one, he has delivered us from the darkness and into the kingdom of his dear son. Paul tells us in Philippians 3.20 that there are those whose minds are on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven. And verse 10 goes on to say, I believed therefore I have spoken, I am greatly afflicted. Let's look now at 2 Corinthians 4, and we'll be looking at verse 13. David's deliverance has given him great confidence to speak of all the Lord has done for him. Even at the very beginning, which represents a lot of his life, he was greatly afflicted, but he believed and cried out to the Lord for deliverance. In 2 Corinthians 4.13, Paul quotes this very verse, verse 10 of our text in Psalm 116. He says, it is written, I believed, therefore I have spoken. Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will present us with him.

It was the same for God's people in David's time and the same for God's people now and going forward. David, under great distress and fear, cried out for deliverance to the only one he knew that could do so. David believed that God in his will could deliver him and he spoke of it continually.

As we look at Paul, he and his fellow believers faced continual persecution, but they had that same spirit of faith that David was speaking of.

Turning to 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter has something to say about this dealing with afflictions, but yet finding by his faith a cause to cry out with inexpressible joy. So 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6, in all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. Then we'll drop down to verse eight. Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

Peter is referring to that faith and confidence that we have in Christ, a faith and confidence that has been hardened by the many trials and tribulations that he and his followers have had to endure. Yet He encourages all believers as He shares those words of loving and believing, even though we are not able to see Him. Yet we love Him, we trust in Him completely. And that fills us with that inexpressible and glorious joy. The kind of joy that even in the time of afflictions will cause us to go and speak out loud of all the Lord has done for us.

Now at this point of my putting this study together, I realized that I was going to have to make a decision. Was I going to continue on to verse 11 and then on through to 15, which I would not have gotten that far today, or should I just forgo 11 through 14 and go on to verse 15? 15 is the very verse That was the motivation for me to bring this study, so I decided to go on to verse 15, and then perhaps pick up the skip verses in a future study.

So let's drop down to verse 15, the one that says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Here we are, verse 15, a very short verse with so much to say. A verse that so many people find comfort in while it's being preached at a funeral of a loved one. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

It's a very positive message, especially when it is paired with such verses of scripture, such as 2 Corinthians 5.8 that says, we are confident, I say, and willing, rather, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. When a loved one who is a believer passes on, This is glory to them and also comfort to all the loved ones left behind. And as we mentioned earlier in our study, for all believers, being present with the Lord after our time on this earth is finished, that is the goal of our salvation and it has come to its final resting place.

Absent from the body is present with the Lord. And how precious will it be to us when we, in just an instant, find ourselves leaving this body but present with the Lord? The verse conveys the idea that death is not an end, but a transition for believers. For them, the moment they are no longer in their physical body, their soul is immediately in the presence of the Lord. That is what was meant when, again, earlier in the study, We said that for believers, dying is not a death, it's a promotion. That second death has absolutely no power over us. That was taken away, removed from us by Christ and his substitutionary death that he suffered on our behalf.

But as wonderful and comforting as all this is, there is more to the story. We have more comfort to stack on the comfort that we already know. So we will be reading several scriptures in an almost rapid-fire way so we can get through them all, but there is a reason for this, and that is it is getting us to a real blessing that is, I feel confident in saying, hidden among all this talk of life after death. We will be on a path that is lightly tread, but it leads us to a wonderful truth that God has blessed us with in Christ.

So to start down this path, we can remember reading earlier, I believe it was week one, from Isaiah 53, how they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was deceit found in his mouth. So two things that we need to see from this verse is that one, there was a grave, and usually there's a reason for a grave. That reason is the second thing we need to see, and that is there was death. Jesus was crucified on the cross between two thieves being crucified at the same time, which is the reason why it is said they made his grave with the wicked. But he was buried with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. because Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man and a secret follower of Jesus, buried him in his private tomb with the rich.

But the main thing and the obvious things to see, the reason for the grave is that Jesus had died. Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 23 and we'll start reading verse 44. So we just read Isaiah's prophecy about our Savior's death on the cross and then his burial. Here in Luke 23, we will read about the actual event as Christ was lifted up onto the cross between those two thieves. So reading, starting with verse 44 of Luke chapter 23. Now it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last. He died on the cross, taking our sin debt with him to that death. The truth of the gospel message is this, Christ died for our sins. That is the sinless son of God was sacrificed on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins that we had committed. He did so exactly as the Old Testament scriptures, such as Isaiah 53, predicted that he would do.

So far on this path, we have seen the prophecy and then the fulfillment of that prophecy. So now let's go on to Galatians chapter 2, and we will go even a little farther down the path. In Galatians 2, verse 20, it says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. The only reason I'm alive is because Christ liveth in me because I died. I was crucified with Christ and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul is declaring here that in our newness of life, we become so closely attached to him that we die with Him, and He is then living in us. Christ was crucified for our sin. By faith, we trust that His death paid for all our own personal sin. In that way, we are crucified with Him as our sin is with Him on the cross. That sinful us dies, replaced by the resurrected Christ in us.

It is what Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 5.21 when he tells us, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. We do continue to live in the flesh, of course, but our lives are now directed not by our sinful selves, but by our faith in Christ. Adding any requirement of good deeds or rituals is opposed to what the gospel teaches. We do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness could come by the law, then Christ would have died in vain.

As we go on, Paul plainly speaks here, I died with him, I live in him. So this path that we are on has started to curve a little bit, but we are not quite to the end yet. So far, the path that started with prophecy and then took us to fulfillment has now brought us to the consequences of Christ dying on that cross.

So look with me at 2nd Timothy, Timothy chapter 2. In 2nd Timothy chapter 2, we read Paul's words. So we just read Paul's words in Galatians 2. The only reason I'm alive is because Christ liveth in me because I died. Well, Paul says it a second time to a different audience. 2 Timothy 2 verse 11, this is a faithful saying, for if we died with him, we shall also live with him.

If we die with him, so again, Paul is sticking to the very same idea. If we have already died with Christ, then we will live forever with him. Then we read on by going on to verse 12 of this letter to Timothy, if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us. True believers are not those who will deny Him, but are those who endure with Him. The word enduring here comes from the Greek and means remaining, lasting, enduring, or suffering. All of these we can see in our lives as believers.

It goes on to say that if we endure with Him, we will reign with Him. Well, if we are reigning with Him, We must be living with Him and He with us. We know from scripture that is what our presence in Christ is all about. We in Him, He in us.

Now for the next to final reading of our path, let's turn to Romans 6. Romans 6 says that we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. so you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Paul has described Jesus' death on the cross for the sins of humanity as a one-time, once-for-all event. He submitted to death in that moment, but once he was resurrected, death had been defeated. It no longer had any hold over him. Jesus was made free from death forever As Paul just said, those who trust in Christ for their salvation also died, were buried, and then were resurrected to a new spiritual life. Spiritually speaking, we are on the same path that Jesus is, free from that death forever. And to further this thought just a little bit in Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews 7 verse 27 says, I won't have you turn there, I'll just read it off my notes. It says, unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

It's appointed unto every man and woman on this earth, appointed by God to every soul on this earth, to one time die and stand before the judgment seat of God. And this brings us to what I think is very special about this. Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints. As if a soul is in Christ, that death and that judgment has already taken place. He took care of that for us, first in the council halls of eternity, which was then made manifest at the cross on Calvary.

If our spirit, our soul is in Christ, it's happened. It has already happened. For every soul that was elected to be saved in Christ, the cross of Calvary, as it was determined to do in eternity, was the death and the judgment of that soul. There's a song that has been done here at this church some time ago. He grew the tree that he knew would be used to make the old rugged cross. And need I say that very cross was the one that was placed atop of Calvary, that place where he knew his son would die on that cross, on that hill, atoning for our sins as it was determined before the foundation of the world, satisfying God's judgment for us.

It's already happened for us. How far back do we go? I don't know, rather than to say back before the world began and the heavens were ever created. For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. How precious was His death to the Father! Christ was the beloved Son in whom the Father was well pleased. Because the sacrifice that purchased Atonement had such a sweet-smelling savor to the Father, that precious blood of the Lamb was precious to the Father. And as it accomplished the death of all of his saints, it was a very precious death to him.

Precious in the sight of the Lord was the death of all his saints. While it is a precious truth that the moment we lay these bodies down and we depart from this world, we will, as the psalmist proclaimed, return to your rest, oh my soul, where the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. That is the ultimate rest. I hold to the belief that as this verse says, our coming into the presence of our Lord will be glorious to us and it will be precious in the sight of the Lord. But that does not take away the blessing that God's people receive, that spiritual rest, which was before the world ever began.

Ephesians 1.4 says, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That is our standing in the Lord right now, holy and without blame before the Lord. Paul tells us in Romans 8, for those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. And what is that image? Holy and blameless in his sight. Oh, as the psalmist said way back in verse one of this wonderful psalm, I love the Lord for he heard my voice.

And so now we conclude our study with these words, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints. So thank you all. Three weeks of Psalm 116, and I really appreciate you sitting through it with me. Thank you.