Well, good morning to everyone near and far, which includes our Zoom gathering, and to those who will listen in on sermon audio. This is week two of our study, which I've titled, Christ Deliverer of Our Souls. And our text is found once again in Psalm 116.

So again, we will read from the 116th Psalm for our morning scripture reading, starting at verse one and then move down to verse 10, hoping we make it there today. So let's begin with verse one.

I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. The pains of death surrounded me, and the pains of Sheol laid hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I implore you, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful. 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.

So I think a brief review of what we looked at last week, which primarily was the first five verses of Psalm 116, will be helpful for context as we move on to part two of our study.

A quick summary of those first five verses of Psalm 116 gives us a look at the psalmist's gratefulness towards God who had saved him from what he described as being surrounded by the pains of death and he felt great fear and turmoil as the pangs of Sheol, described as a dark pit where the dead go, describing a near-death state which can have both a spiritual and physical implication, had laid its hold on him.

So he cries out, oh Lord, deliver my soul. Jeremiah 33, three starts out by saying, call to me and I will answer you. Emphasizing that God is accessible and will reveal great and mighty things to those who seek him. The Lord heard his plea and delivered him, causing the psalmist to proclaim that he loved the Lord.

We discussed how this love that David declares is the result of the very truth that we love him only because he first loved us. God chose at that time to reveal that love to David, causing David to praise God for his gracious, righteous, and bountiful mercy, and to proclaim that he would from that time on call on God for the rest of his life. He concludes by affirming the nature of God, who is gracious, righteous, and full of compassion, directly linking this to his salvation. And that link is something that becomes very clear when we pick up where we left off last week.

But a little bit more review before we do that though, because we need to take another look at what we read from the book of Hebrews, that I believe is very important to know and to understand as they convey the importance of why Christ came to this world, why he needed to come in the form of man, being made to be just like his brothers.

In Hebrews 2, verses 9 and 10, we will get at least a small view, a look-see into that humanity of Jesus, our High Priest, as a preview to what we will see when we look into his experience at Gethsemane. So Hebrews 2 verses 9 and 10, But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor, because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation, perfect through sufferings. Verses 9 and 10 of chapter 2 explain how this makes Jesus perfect as a sacrificial substitute for humanity.

Humanity is tempted and so was Christ. And as we read last week in Hebrews 4 verse 15, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin. Humanity faces death and so did Christ. He is the only one who has both experienced and overcome the power of sin and temptation. This perfect obedience is what was required to satisfy God's perfect justice. Anything less than perfect would not be sufficient for paying the sin debt that we owe.

As we saw last week, His humanity was necessary in order to be that perfect substitute for sinful man, and by that, then becoming the perfect sacrifice for all the elect the Father had given Him. The perfect Savior had to be made the perfect man in order to be that perfect sacrifice necessary to In order to satisfy God's perfect justice, it was by His perfect obedience to the Father that He became the only acceptable sacrifice.

In this reading of verses 9 and 10 of Hebrews 2, along with chapter 4, verse 15, we have the manner of how this Jesus was made perfect as a sacrificial substitute for humanity, what was fully required to satisfy the debt before God's perfect justice. All humanity is tempted, and so was Christ. We read that in Hebrews 4. Humanity faces death, and so did Christ, as verses 9 and 10 brought out.

These verses hopefully help us understand the point I wanted to bring out before we go on to Matthew 26, that Christ, the founder or the captain of our salvation, also faced temptations. He faced the pain, He faced sorrow, anguish, all the things that His brothers and sisters, us, face, but we did so, He did so without falling into sin. As we read here in Hebrews, He came to be a sacrifice for us and He died by the shedding of His blood, covering all of our sin. His sacrifice redeemed us and has brought for us eternal life.

Just like David said in verse 5 of our text, gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful. And as David declared early in the psalm, and we also can proclaim, the deliverer has delivered my soul.

Okay, now we can move on to Matthew 26. So if you would like to turn there, we will be starting at verse 36. We will be looking at Jesus praying in the garden where his humanity, that humanity we have explored in our reading of chapter two of Hebrews will be in full view.

So reading here in Matthew 26, starting at verse 36. Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, sit here while I go over there and pray. He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet not as I will, but as you will. Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour? He asked Peter. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away a second time and prayed, my father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.

Jesus took his disciples that were left with him to Gethsemane. It is very often in scripture that places are named after events that happened there. According to several different commentators, they are pretty consistent in saying that Gethsemane means oil press and represents the crushing weight of sin and sorrow that Jesus spoke to and why he said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

The oil press was used in the process of extracting the valuable oil from Ollies and the name Gethsemane is representative of his agony while the precious blood shedding that oil press was happening on the cross. He takes only Peter, James, and John, the two sons of Zebedee, on into the garden.

There is no clear reason as why Jesus took only these three of the disciples, but they were the ones who witnessed the transfiguration where they saw him in all his glory as the Son of God. And now they will see him in all his humanity as the Son of Man. They will witness his feeling sorrowful and troubled

The story as told us by Luke even becomes more graphic as it says, and being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. It is believed by some that these three were there to witness the fulfillment of scripture as these three witnesses aligns with the biblical principle that A matter is established by the mouth of two or three witnesses, something we see presented to us several times in scripture.

Whatever the reason, they were there and witnessed his anguish as he looked ahead to the betrayal that was soon to happen, along with the crucifixion and its pain and agony, the death and burial all weighing heavy on his mind. He even prayed, my father, if it's possible, may this cup be taken from me.

I did have a moment of comedy as I was bouncing around on the internet looking for some tidbits of wisdom dealing with all this, and I came across this AI interpretation of Christ praying and weeping while he was there in the garden. AI interpreted it this way. While weeping shows his human anguish, Jesus ultimately chose to accept his fate. In the garden, he made the deliberate choice to die on the cross for humankind's salvation, praying, not as I will, but as you will.

No, no, no, that is not when the decision to die on the cross for mankind's salvation was made. That plan was made in the Council Halls of Eternity before sin ever entered into the picture, before the world to hold that sin was even created. It was in the Council Halls of Eternity where the full Godhead, the Great Three-in-One, determined that Christ would die on the cross.

Nothing has ever taken place that was outside this council. Every event in time fulfills what His wisdom ordered, all this before the world became. Christ came to this world for the express purpose of saving sinners, which required His dying on the cross.

A couple quick verses confirming that very thing we see first in Mark 10, verse 45, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And then, in John 10, we are told, The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life for my sheep, only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." He took on the form of the obedient servant, obedient even to death, on the cross. It just shows that AI can be fun and helpful at times, but it also shows there is yet some real work that needs to be done, especially when it comes to biblical interpretation.

I did, though, find some tidbits of that wisdom while googling around on the net from two commentators I believe we can trust. being Matthew Henry and the other John Gill. They are commenting on the words where Christ had spoke about being filled with sorrow, even to the point of death.

I just want to share a small part of what they have said about Jesus' words, starting here with Mr. Henry, where he says in his normally powerful way, the words used denote the most entire dejection, amazement, anguish, and horror of mine. The state of one surrounded with sorrows, overwhelmed with miseries, and almost swallowed up with terror and dismay. He now began to be sorrowful and never ceased to be so until he said, it is finished.

Jesus is showing his sorrows, his anguish there in the garden, and they do not stop until he has taken his final breath, again saying, it is finished.

John Gill said it much the same way, and I quote, the sorrows of death and hell surrounded him on every side in so much that the Least degree of comfort was not let into him, nor was there any way open for it, so that his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow. His heart was ready to break. He was brought even, as it were, to the dust of death, nor would his sorrows leave him until soul and body were separated from each other.

So I hope we can all see Christ's shared inhumanity, feeling everything the psalmist describes when he speaks to finding his trouble and sorrow, the sorrows of death that were surrounding him. These are very familiar words taking us to the words David spoke at the beginning of this psalm.

We go on with that description of what Christ went through from the time of praying and weeping in Gethsemane right up until his death on the cross. Both Gil and Henry make a point of that timeframe. Henry said his suffering remained with him right up until he said it is finished. Gil said his sorrows would not leave him until his soul and body were separated from each other.

Not only was there to be a physical death, but the emotional or spiritual death was especially painful as he was facing total separation from the father. As the hymn, His Robes for Mine, describes it, Christ, God's beloved, condemned as though his foe, Jesus forsaken, God estranged from God.

Isaiah 53 states, for he was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgressions of my people, he was stricken. Cut off from the land of the living, so much so, he felt totally separated from the eternal living God and father causing him to cry out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And then there was the pain. He was fearful of that excruciating pain that he knew he would suffer. I don't know if you all have any idea what excruciating is in its full sense, its full meaning. I did a little study on the word and I think what I found might surprise you. It did me.

Excruciating, as you might expect, is said to be the most severe pain a person can suffer. Crucifixion was considered to be the most painful and tortuous method of execution ever devised and was used only for the most despised and wicked people. We certainly see how man's view of the Messiah fits the story as he described it in Isaiah 53, as despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, he was despised and we did not esteem him. And then they made his grave with the wicked. Men had no love for or acceptance of this man. They wanted only to punish him in the worst way, which was to crucify him.

What I learned from researching the word excruciating is that the pain of crucifixion was so bad that they needed to invent a word to help explain the totality of the pain. That word, excruciate, the etymology of excruciating literally means to inflict pain as if by crucifixion. The root word, cruciere, itself comes from crux, the Latin word for cross. The word excruciating literally means from the cross.

So, how many of us could ever say that we have experienced the excruciating pain that Christ would go through on the cross? Well, the excruciating pain of the cross is what our Lord suffered alone, not able to stop the agony that he was in. Not that he couldn't stop it, he was the son of God, so he couldn't stop it and accomplish his assignment, deliver his people from their sin.

On the cross though, his father had turned away from him. That's why he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? No, he did not cry out, my father, my father, why hast thou forsaken me? Because he and the father at that time had no communion with each other. They were no longer one. Just like Adam, when he sinned, he lost that sweet communion with God because of the sin of disobedience.

Now, with Christ, because of the sin and disobedience that he had taken upon himself, our sin and disobedience, he cried out asking as to why the Father had turned away from him. When the appointed time came, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Jesus said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And soon after, he took his last breath.

At that very moment of Jesus's death, that separation between man and God had been destroyed. The father's gaze had returned back onto his son. You could almost imagine hearing those words that God had proclaimed from the heavens after the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Went straight from those heavens, he said, this is my son in whom I am well pleased.

God was pleased with the son, so pleased he accepted the sacrifice. The Son was found sufficient as a sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice, as He was without spot or blemish. Christ accomplished that assignment from the Father by satisfying the righteous demands of a holy God and proving He was the true Lamb of God when on the third day He arose.

The sin He had taken upon Himself, the sin of His people, our sin, they were done away with by Christ and were forever forgotten. Christ's assignment was done, and as 2 Corinthians 5.21 tells us, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Christ put to death all the sin that had been laid upon him, and the good news of the gospel is that all he died for were reconciled to God. It is finished are the words he spoke hanging on the cross just before his last breath was taken. The great deliverance was complete. He had, as the psalmist had requested, delivered our souls.

Okay, a couple more places I would like to take a look at. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter one. As we pick up again, looking at verse five, where David is continuing with a proclamation about the grace and mercy of God, declaring, gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful. With that in mind, let's now read what Paul has to say here in Colossians 1, verses 13 and 14.

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He has delivered us from the power of darkness. The word power can mean such things as the grave or having dominion. It is speaking to the strength of that darkness. In other words, the power of sin. It's the strength and power that our sin has over each of us before God delivers us into that victory that Jesus had over that very dominion of sin.

When David spoke of the pains of death that surrounded him, and how the pangs of Sheol laid hold of him. These are pictures of the power of sin that creates such a spiritual battle within. David not only was feeling intense pressure from the enemies that were pursuing him, but he is also describing the battle between the spirit and the flesh.

Paul describes them in Ephesians 6 when he says, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. It's easy at times to feel like the psalmist did when he cried out to the Lord. imploring him to deliver his soul. But as it says here in the first chapter of Colossians, he delivers us from that darkness and transfers us into the kingdom of the Son that he loves.

And then what does verse 14 say? In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Yes, as the psalmist had implored the Lord to do, the Lord rescued him, delivered him from that which had such a powerful hold on him. Whether it was his enemies that wanted to do him harm, which God was constantly protecting him from, or the spiritual battles that could leave anyone equally afraid and desperate, God provides redemption, that safe harbor.

Redemption is a theme of both the Old and the New Testament, from the redemption of the Passover lamb, to the redemption of Christ on the cross. Through his sacrifice, Jesus provided a means for us to be forgiven of our sin, delivered from that which had enslaved us. He has provided us with that safe harbor, that thing we call redemption.

Turn, if you will, in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 2, There is something else that redemption and the forgiveness of sins gives us that I'm sure was a great blessing to David when he was able to look back on his ordeals. That's how it should be for all of us as we think about the blessings that God has given us in Christ. The peace, hope, and comfort that we get in Christ is immeasurable, which is what Paul is telling us in chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians.

So reading here in verses 16 and 17, May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. Jesus and the Father loved us while we were yet sinners with an eternal love that we can never be separated from. Because of God's love for us, because of God's love for King David, what Paul describes as the things that God has bestowed on the Thessalonians, comfort that outlasts this life and encouragement that extends for eternity, all of God's people share in that blessing from above. He has imparted it by His grace. His unmerited favor has extended it to all believers, all the church throughout eternity. Persecution and trials will not dim the good hope of God that God has bestowed on those He loves.

Now, we and the psalmist, knowing that, we all go on to say, gracious is the Lord and righteous, yes, our God is merciful.

Step back with me now, if you will, to verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It is a good capstone to verses 16 and 17 as it identifies the cause of the blessings and to whom they are reserved for, God's chosen people.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

Brothers loved by the Lord, saved through sanctification by the Spirit, and given the faith to believe. It is God in His love, showing His mercy and His grace to each of us.

Two words that are so closely related, but yet are completely opposite. What is mercy? It is God not giving us what we deserve, the punishment for our sins. Instead, he gives us his grace, which is God giving us what we do not deserve, blessings, favor, and salvation. That is an unshakable combination.

And as we are told in Ephesians 1, verses 13 and 14, it is guaranteed by the seal of the Holy Spirit. when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, being sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are in God's possession, to the praise of his glory.

And as verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians brings out, along with verse 13 of Ephesians 1, We are saved through the sanctification of the Spirit, but also belief in the truth. And what is that truth? Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

And Jesus Christ is the word, as John chapter 1 says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. And from that, we know that the word is Christ, and we know the truth is Christ. He who came to save his people from their sins.

So is there any wonder as to why David, after feeling all but swallowed up by death, and then mercifully delivered by he who heard his voice, why he can now comfortably once again proclaim, gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful.

And this gives us a perfect segue into verses six through nine. 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.

In verse 6, we see the psalmist referring back to the very beginning of the psalm, speaking again to the Lord, saving him from distress, sorrow, and the pangs of Sheol. I was brought low, the psalmist includes this statement after being brought low and experiencing God's rescue. It highlights God's character as a merciful, gracious, and compassionate God. toward those who are humble and in need.

The Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low and he saved me. He is declaring that it was the Lord who has preserved him. Preserve, in this case, means that God actively watches over, guards, and shields believers from harm. For the psalmist, this preservation resulted in God saving him from the threat of death. He goes on in verse eight to say, the Lord has delivered my soul from death, saying it all with great confidence because his heart tells him God cares for his own.

When you are welcomed into the kingdom of God, after being given that new life in Christ, what does Paul say in 2 Corinthians chapter five? Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has passed away, the new is here. You have been rescued from that old dominion of darkness and have been delivered into the kingdom of light.

Being in the kingdom of God as part of the body of Christ, you are in your city of refuge. There is no reason for fear. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. That alone encourages believers not to be afraid of people who can harm their physical bodies, as God is ultimately in control and he protects his saints from the harm that truly matters.

But the verse does go on to say, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul. And that's Matthew chapter 10, verse 28. Christ is speaking to his followers at a time of great persecution. Christ is warning them about the hatred they will face when they go out and proclaim their faith in Christ. Persecution from Jewish religious leaders and Gentile authorities will be sure to follow them.

So Christ tells them to not fear those who can destroy the body, fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul. He is saying, stand firm in the faith, even though they know that their bodies may suffer injury or death, but the believer's soul, it's bound for glory and it is shielded by God for that very purpose.

But those who reject Christ, who go to their grave rejecting Christ and his gospel, those that Peter refers to in 1 Peter 2, where he states that those who disobey the message of Christ stumble because they disobey the word, which is also what they were destined to do.

And even more to the point is verse 2 in Thessalonians, I'm sorry, and even more to the point is a verse in 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 9, which mentions those who obey not the gospel will suffer punishment, even eternal destruction. Now, those two verses and many others point to the destruction that is reserved for them who go to hell because they would not bow their knee to Jesus. they would not have this man rule over them, so their destiny is destruction of both body and soul.

But we who are among those, like the psalmist, who find themselves at rest in Christ, We are, our souls are kept by God's protective shield. Our souls cannot be killed. Ecclesiastes 12 verse seven notes, the body returns to the dust while the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Is it any wonder then that in verse seven, we see the psalmist encouraging himself to remember where he was when he was calling out to the Lord for deliverance. and then comparing that to where he is now at rest. Return also to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

In the earliest verses of this chapter, we found him in fear of death facing the grave. But what wonderful assurance does God give to all those who truly call him their Lord God? We are at rest and we don't even feel threatened by what we call the second death. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection, for the second death has no power over them. That's a verse from Revelation 20. It describes people who participate in the first resurrection as being blessed and holy. all because we have risen with Christ.

The first resurrection here refers to those who died in Christ before his resurrection. They will, at his return, also rise with him. But it also has a spiritual meaning in that it refers to us dying to the old man, our old nature, and then being made a new creation. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. That comes from 2 Corinthians 5.

Old things have passed away. What is it as often said when speaking of someone who has died? They have passed away. That is what Paul is saying here about our old nature, our old man. The old has passed away. It has died and we have been made a new creation. We are alive in Christ.

Well, looking at the clock, we have to conclude for today. Didn't get as far as I wanted, but the clock has run out. So we will pick up next week where Paul will further explain the power we have in Christ that protects us from the consequences of the second death.

Brother Mike, you ready for another hymn?