Turning our Bibles to Psalm 116. Psalm 116. Most everyone will recognize
this psalm because most everybody has heard verse 15 preached at
funerals many times. Verse 15 says, Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. And there is no
doubt that the physical death of God's saints is precious in
His sight. This is when He brings us to
Himself and we no more have this flesh to contend with ever again. We see Christ and conform to
Him. But now the context of this psalm
speaks of another kind of death. A death God brings His saints
through many times in our life. A death that we will encounter
many times in our life. It begins with conversion. That's
where this death begins. And it's precious in God's sight.
But over and over many times the Lord works to cause this
death. And it's going to be until the
last physical death. It is the death of self. The
death of self. Self dies slowly. Self dies slowly. but God is continually causing
this death. There is the death of self-righteous
self whenever God first makes us hear that we've come short
of the law's demands and that we are sin in our very nature.
Apostle Paul said in Romans 7, 9, I was alive without the law
once. He thought he was keeping the
law, thought he was doing good works, and thought he was would
be highly commended before God. And God gave the commandment,
taught him he was a sinner, and he said, when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. I died. There's the death of
self-sustaining, self-wise, self-saving self. And God makes this death
happen when he brings us into trials and puts us in positions
where there's just absolutely no way we can save ourselves. And he makes you know it, thoroughly
know it. Paul spoke of deaths often, encountering
deaths often. He even said, I die daily. One particular trial, he said
this was the purpose of it. We were pressed out of measure,
above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves. There's
the purpose, that we should not trust in ourselves. But in God,
which raiseth the dead. who delivered us from so great
a death, and doth deliver, and whom we trust that He will yet
deliver us. And just like that last physical
death we're going to encounter, each of these deaths is precious
in the sight of the Lord, the death of His saints. It's precious
in God's sight. And the same thing is happening
in these deaths from the death in conversion to death in each
trial the same things happening That's going to happen in that
last physical death We die to ourself a little more And that
last physical death we're going to die to self completely And
each of these deaths we die to this world a little more that
last physical death we're going to die to this world completely
And we behold God our Savior a little more. And His love fills
our heart a little more. And we're constrained to walk
after Him a little more. Conform to Him in the inward
man a little more. And in that last physical death,
we're going to be perfectly conformed to Him. So our subject is precious
death that humbles. Precious death that humbles.
Now Paul spoke of putting on humbleness of mind. Remember that, humbleness of
mind. He said put on bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing
one another, forgiving one another. And when we're going to go through
this psalm, we're going to hear humbleness of mind. That's what
we're going to hear. And we're going to see how it
comes about. We're going to see how God gives
it right here. Humbleness of mind is produced
by God only. God tells you to put it on, but
only God can make you put it on. God is going to make us die
to self, and that's how He does this. We have to be brought low,
very low, very low. We have to be made simple, simple-minded. We'll see what that is. And that's
why the death of God's saints is precious in its sight. It
makes us cast everything on Christ more and follow Him more closely. All right, let's start at the
beginning. David first declares the chief fruit that God produced
in him by this death. Verse 1, I love the Lord. There's the chief fruit. I love
the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications,
because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I
call upon him as long as I live. When we're brought low, as David
was brought here, We're going to cry to God in simple faith. We have nobody else to cry to.
That's what simplicity is. And God's going to make us know
in our hearts his love. He's going to make us know he
heard us and shed the love of God abroad in our hearts. And
when he does that, It makes your heart be bound to Him in love.
He says, I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my
supplication. And it grows us in hope. We've
experienced this. We know what God's working and
we've experienced this. So when the next death comes
and we experience this again, we have hope that God will hear
us because we've experienced Him hearing us. And he said there,
because he hath declined his ear unto me, therefore I will
I call upon him as long as I live. It makes you call upon him in
the future. And this word call doesn't mean
just pray to him. Though it does mean that, it
means praise him. It means worship him. Worship
him. Now in Romans 5, that's what
Paul said God works through trials. That's why we glory in tribulation.
Because the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost. And we're reminded that if Christ
redeemed us when we were ungodly, when we were without strength,
when we were enemies to God, we're renewed to remember that
now that we're reconciled friends to God, we shall be saved by
His life. He's ever living, ever interceding
for His people. Now how was this love and this
humbleness of mine produced in David? Psalm 116 verse 3. Psalm 116 verse 3. How was this love and humbleness
of mine produced in David? The sorrows of death compassed
me and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble
and sorrow. This was written by David after
he'd been a believer for a while. This was during one of his many
trials. Most all agree to that. We don't
have to look to commentators to know that. We can look at
this psalm and know that. Verse 7, he said, Return unto
thy rest, O my soul. You can only return to where
you've already been. But this sorrow does usually
begin at conversion. And when we first experience
it, it's a very sorrowful thing. Usually that's where it's the
worst. But that's not the only time
that it's needful. And it is needful. And it's not... It's a treasure chest of mercy. It's a treasure chest of God's
riches when He gives you this kind of sorrow right here. It's
needful. Some experience it more and some
less. And I say we usually experience that conversion because you can't
put God in a box and the spirit of God in a box and how he operates
in believers, in his saints. Some experience it more, some
less, some later, some earlier, some often. But all are going
to experience it. And this is so what William Cowper
wrote. He said, the path of sorrow and
that path alone leads to the land where sorrow is unknown. And that's so. Our Lord was a
man of sorrows acquainted with grief. And he said to servants
not above his Lord. He said, you're going to suffer.
He said, in this world, you shall have tribulation. It's all we
can expect because we have a sin nature still. It's all we can
expect because we live in a sinful world. But that is on purpose
to keep us knowing our only salvation. The only way we live right now
and believe is Christ. Everything we need to get through
this life and come to Him in glory is Christ, worked by Christ,
and will be to the praise and glory of Christ. Everything.
Everything. He said the sorrows of death
come past me, squeezed me all around. The sorrows of death
are if you were dying and you didn't know Christ, you'd be
thinking about your past sins. And that's what it is for a believer
too. Sorrows of death are just the past sins. God makes you
see them more and more. And conversion, you see them
like you never saw them. But then as you go on through
your life, you begin to see them more. You see present sins. Present
sins. Sins and deeds that you meant
for the most good. And you see you are sin. That's what your flesh is. It's
just sin. You see it more and more. It's
the sorrow of knowing your flesh is grass. It's the sorrow of
knowing our choices blooms that our best works that God's produced
in us are yet so sinful because they're mixed with our sin. And they wither. in our eyes. They fall away in our eyes and
in our heart. That's when your moisture is
turned into the drought of summer. He said, the pains of hell got
hold of me. That's when you know. That's
when you confess to God. God would be just, absolutely
just, if He just threw you in hell. Have you been there? Did you come there in conversion?
Have you been there since you've been one of God's saints? It happens. It happens over and
over. Remorse over your sins, a sense
of condemnation, hope is diminished and there's a debilitating sense
of misery. Those are just some of the pains
of hell. That's what the psalmist was suffering in his trial. Everywhere
he looked, he looked. He tried to find some help, but
everywhere he looked, all he said, I found trouble and sorrow. I found trouble and sorrow. He
could not free his soul. He could not dry his eyes. He
could not deliver his feet from falling. Everywhere he looked,
he found trouble and sorrow, and that is God's purpose. When
God is turning His child to Him, remember how He took Gomer out
in the wilderness, and He said, and now I'm going to take everything
away, and I'm going to hedge up her way, and I'm going to
discover to her her lewdness and the sight of her lovers.
And that's what God does to us. Over and over, He brings you
to a place where you can't find anything but trouble and sorrow
anywhere you look. And that's why Paul said we had
the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God which raises the dead. That's the purpose. So what did
David do? Verse 4. Then I called upon the
name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. I'm sure
he called on the Lord many times before, and I'm sure it was a
pretty well-formed prayer, and all the words were just right.
And God heard that too. This one right here. This is
a sinner who's so desperate that he knows that if God doesn't
save him, if Christ doesn't deliver him, he will not be delivered.
He has one, one, one, one on his mind. That's Christ. Just one can save him. That's
when you cast all your care on the Lord. Sometimes this prayer
is vocal. When you're in your closet, it's
vocal. But it's a cry from the heart whenever this is going
on. Spurgeon said this. He said,
Your heart will cry to God at once. When you're brought to
this place, your heart will cry to God at once. Your heart will.
Tears will speak for you. Sighs will speak for you. Your
heart and its silence will speak unto God and call upon His name. Remember Paul said the Spirit
of God is in us making intercession with words that can't be uttered.
God's looking on the heart. He knows what we're thinking
in our heart without the flesh getting involved. It's that much
communion between us and God that it's just what you're thinking
in your heart when you're just desperate for God to help you.
He knows it. What did he find out? Verse 5. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Our God is merciful. The Lord
preserveth the simple. I was brought low and He helped
me. All who cease from self All who
come to the Lord, believing He alone is able to save, find that
the Lord is gracious. It's His grace brought you there.
And they find that He's righteous and merciful. If God's brought
you to the place David was, then you will call on the Lord. It's
God's purpose. And you will find the Lord is
gracious and merciful and righteous. So if you're there, call on Him. Call on Him. Don't ever... We
need Him every hour. Call on Him. Call on Him. How could God be gracious and
righteous? How can He have mercy on a sinner
when you see yourself this sinful? How can He be just to have mercy
on you? The soul that sins must die.
The soul that sins must die. That's not counting the outward
sins and the words. Just if you sin in your heart,
you must die. The soul that sins must die. God will by no means clear the
guilty. He's righteous, so how can he
be gracious and show us mercy? It's because God Himself in the
person of the Son of God came down and took flesh. He came
down here and He took flesh. There's how God is gracious.
This is what He's showing us again. This is what He's reminding
us again every time. Every time. Just like everything
in that tabernacle pictured this right here. Every sacrifice pictured
Christ in His accomplished redemption. Everything in the gospel we preach
is about Christ and his redemption. And that's what every trial is
bringing us to see again. Christ and how he reconciled
us to God. Christ was made his people. He
was made His people. He behooved Him in all things
to be made like unto His brethren. He was made His people so that
God might deal with Him alone in justice as the one man that
God would deal with. The head. The head. And in Him
all the people be dealt with. All His brethren. All His elect.
And so every sin of His people Christ willingly bore in His
own body on the tree. So that God was just to pour
out justice on Him. He was made a curse for us. More
than David, more than me, more than you, more than any other
man ever experienced, any of God's saints ever experienced,
however sorrowful we're brought to, however low we're brought,
we've never experienced the sorrows of death and had the pains of
hell take hold of us like Christ did on the cross. Never. Never. And He satisfied justice. He
fulfilled God's law for us. He magnified it. He honored it
to the highest. Only, there's only He could do. Perfection. And therefore, gracious
is the Lord and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. And you know it's right there
at the cross? Right there at the cross, when Christ died.
That's preeminently, preeminently, where the death of God's saints
is precious in His sight. Right there. Because we died
right there. We were His saints. We were chosen,
set apart in Christ. And by His one offering, He perfected
us forever. That death right there put an
end to our old man of sin. We died. That's the death right
there that's precious in God's sight, preeminently. But do you
remember the other reason the Son of God took flesh and suffered
for His people? David experienced something here
when this happened. He experienced the love of God.
Do you remember why the Son of God, the other reason that He
took flesh? Hebrews 2.17 says, Wherefore
in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren,
that He might be a merciful. and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, being tried, he
is able to succor, to comfort them that are tempted. That's
why the high priest was chosen from among the people. He had
to be one with them. He had to be one who was touched
with all the same infirmities they were. He had to know something
about the sin they know. That's why he had to be taken
from among the people, Aaron and all his son. Christ suffered
without sin, though. He did not sin when he suffered,
unlike the other priests, but he knows He knows what the infirmity
of all our sin feels like. He knows every bit of it. He
was touched with it. And he knows everything we suffer. He suffered
every trial far greater than we do. And as a man trusting
God his Father, he experienced God's grace and mercy and faithfulness
to him. When he had finished satisfying
the law, God fulfilled every word of his covenant to him and
raised him from the dead and he sat down at God's right hand.
He, as a man, experienced his grace and mercy and how God dealt
with him when he was suffering this. And so Christ knows how
to deal with men. You His saints who are men, how
to deal with you when you're suffering this. And next we see
the purpose of God toward His saints. This is why we must suffer
this death. This is why it's precious in
God's sight. Notice right here, we have to
be brought to remember who it is the Lord preserves. who he
preserves. Verse 6, the Lord preserveth
the simple. I was brought low and he helped
me. We're made simple by God when
our minds are single for Christ only. That's what it is to be
simple. Paul's biggest fear And this
is the devil's desire. This is what he's trying to do.
He's using religion. He's using men and religion.
He's using whatever he can. And this is what his desire is. And this is what Paul feared.
He said, I fear that your mind should be corrupted from the
simplicity of Christ. That means Christ plus nothing.
Christ plus nothing. Christ only. That means as vile
as you are, As wretched as you are, can you say that? Can you
say, yes, amen to that? As wretched as I am, God's going
to save me for Christ only. For His sake only. He forgives
you for Christ's sake only. Christ forgives you, the scripture
said. That's His mercy. That's His
grace. And we're simple when our affection
is singularly set on Christ above. That's only accomplished when
we're low. That word low means when self
is dried up, when we're emptied of self, when we're impoverished,
when we're made utterly weak. That's when God has produced
in you, in the new man, a broken and a contrite heart. That's
when he's made you put on true humbleness of mind. That's when you're made to know
again Christ is our only salvation. And at that point, At that point, we stop accusing.
We stop continually accusing and accusing and accusing. We're
too sinful to do that. We're too sinful to do that.
You have brethren that you love that won't... It's just, you're just sinful.
You can't do anything but cry to God, help me Lord. And look
to Him alone. Look to Him alone. But we're
so prone to become everything but simple and low. The flesh
is very contrary to this simplicity and lowliness. Our minds get
set on the cares of this world. We start thinking we have some
kind of sufficiency in ourselves. We begin to look at our accomplishments,
begin to look at our good works, begin to look at ourselves, and
we start thinking more highly of our own self than we ought
to think. That's the only reason we condemn
anybody. That's the only reason we will not immediately, when
somebody asks for mercy, say, I forgive you, brother. That's
the only reason. We think in too highly of ourselves. We start esteeming others or
esteeming ourselves better than others. That's why God has to
do this over and over, over and over. So again, he makes it simple
by bringing us low. He says here, I was brought low.
This wasn't just something that happened. He said, I was brought
low. God did this on purpose. God
sent the trial on purpose to make self die, to mortify the
flesh in his saint. That's why he did it. to set
his affection on Christ. That's who God preserves, the
simple. The only reason we persevere
in the faith is He preserves the simple. He gives you the
faith. He keeps the faith sustained. He keeps making you die in yourself,
mortifying yourself, and looking to Him only. That's Him preserving
the simple. And He brings you low to work
this, to keep your contrite and broken. And He's nigh unto them
that are of a broken and a contrite heart. He is. So then God delivered
him, and by it, He brought him to say this. Look at verse 5. Gracious is the Lord and righteous,
yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple.
I was brought low, and He helped me. That's how the death of God's
saints is precious in His sight. That's why, right there. God
worked that, and that's what He brings His child to say, and
that's why the death of His saints is precious in His sight. When
He's made you die to self, and give Him all the glory and praise
for His grace, and for His mercy, and for His righteousness. And
that's when He makes us repent and return to Christ, makes us
be renewed in the inward man in the grace and knowledge of
Christ. Verse 7, Return unto thy rest,
O my soul. For the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death. You know
when he says there the Lord has dealt bountifully with me, he's
talking about God bringing him into the sorrows of death so
that the pains of hell got hold of him. He said you've dealt
so bountifully with me. Don't we say that about the trial?
Don't we say that every time God brings you to see what he's
worked for you? Oh, Lord, you are so bountiful
to me. Thou hast delivered my soul from death. He makes our
flesh die, but he delivers our soul from death. Mine eyes from
tears. Couldn't you be comforted anywhere
else? He comforts you. my feet from falling, I'll walk
before the Lord in the land of the living." If you spoke Hebrew
and you heard, return unto thy rest, O my soul, the word that
you would hear spoke would be return unto thy Noah. Same exact Hebrew word is translated
rest here, is translated Noah when speaking about Noah. The
word means rest. Noah means rest. You remember
after the flood when Noah let the raven and the dove out of
the window. Water had not receded yet. There was no land to land
on. There was just death floating
all about. So the raven did not return. The raven was content
with death. But the dove found no place for
her feet. She was not content with death.
Do you know what she did? She returned unto her Noah. She returned unto her rest. She came back into the ark. Now
brethren, the unregenerate sinner is only a raven. He's content
with death. He's fine with death. I don't
need God. I don't need that. That's what
he said. But don't ever forget there's a raven in every one
of God's saints too. There's an old man that's such
sinful wretch in you and in me. And if God didn't bring us low
with the trial, if He didn't bring us to be simple in our
mind and to mortify, kill our flesh and deliver our soul from
this body of death, we would not return to Christ our rest. That's why He won't let you find
anything but trouble and sorrow when He brings you there to this
place. But He keeps bringing you to be simple. Keeps bringing
you to be low. Keeps preserving you. And that's
when he renews us to worship and praise God with the heart. With the heart. Verse 12. What
shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I'll pay my vows unto the
Lord now in the presence of all His people. That's why God says,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saint.
And he knew that. The psalmist wrote that. And
the psalmist knew that now. This has been precious in God's
sight. What he's worked here for me
has been precious in God's sight. You see the context of this?
He's not talking about the end of his life here. He's talking
about what God worked in a trial. God made him die all over again. And it's through the trial that
faith and hope's grown, and it's all by the love of God should
have brought in our heart. We have assurance in nowhere
but Christ. Look at verse 16. Oh Lord, truly I am thy servant. He knew this. He's saying this
with faith and assurance. Oh Lord, truly I am thy servant. How did he know this? Because
God didn't let him go. Because God sent the sorrows
of death to him and sent the pains of hell to get hold of
him. That's how he knew, I'm yours. And then the Lord brought
him out of it and answered him when he cried to him. And that's
how he knew, I'm yours Lord. I'm thy servant. Willingly made you servant, your
bond servant. I'm the son of thine handmaid.
Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving." Don't we have so much to thank God for? Not just the good, the sorrowful. That's God dealing bountifully
with us. Keeping you humble in your mind about your own self. I'll offer thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. That
also means praise, you know. I'll pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the
Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye
the Lord. Amen. Father, thank You for this Word.
Thank You for this gracious dealing in which You deal with Your people. Lord, make us die to self. Make
us alive in our new man. Make us behold that our life
is Christ only. Keep our minds simple. Simplicity
of faith. Keep us humbled in mind. Don't let us look at the good
works that You work in us. Don't let us look at any accomplishments. Keep us looking only to Christ.
Keep us giving You all the glory and all the praise. Lord, thank You that You work
this. Thank You that You keep Your people. We're thankful Christ has suffered
it and that He knows how to comfort. Oh, how bountifully you've dealt
with us, Lord. Those that are yours that have
experienced this will say amen. You have bountifully dealt with
us. The sorrow is sweet sorrow. Pain is sweet pain. Thank you,
Lord. Truly, truly, thank you. Lord,
we pray you work this in each of you saints. If you work this
in us, Lord, there'll be peace. We'll actually open a door and
listen to one another. Lord, we pray you work this in
your people. For Christ's sake, in his name we ask it. Amen.