Praise for the Redeemed Part 1 — Chuck Smith

Oh, let the sun...

Welcome to The Word for Today, the broadcast ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible.

And on today's edition of The Word for Today, we'll be focusing our attention on praise for the redeemed as we pick up in the 116th Psalm, beginning with verse 1. And now, with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith.

Psalm 116 and the Suffering of Christ

Now, in an overall sense, there is one interpretation of this psalm that interprets it as a psalm that deals with the suffering of Christ. And it would make Christ the principal speaker in the psalm. That precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

And it would make Christ the speaker. That's one interpretation. Another interpretation of the psalm says it's the nation Israel who went through this period of death, so to speak. The nation was scattered throughout the world and they cried unto the Lord.

The Lord heard, God delivered them, and lived before the Lord, walked before the Lord in the land of the living. And they see it as the nation Israel. Those are interpretations. But to look at this psalm just from a plain looking at it, the psalmist himself, it would seem that the psalmist is talking about an experience that he had where he almost died and thought he was going to die.

Deliverance from Death and Answered Prayer

He was given up for dead. And he cried unto the Lord and the Lord healed him, raised him up. And thus the psalm is written on the basis of a man thinking he was going to die. The sorrows of death encircled me, the pains of the grave grabbed hold of me, I found trouble and sorrow.

And so I called on the name of the Lord and I was afflicted. You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. So the psalmist really thought he was dying, going to die.

He called unto the Lord, the Lord answered, the Lord healed him. And so he opens the psalm, having been healed, saying, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications. He answered my prayer.

When I thought it was all over, when I thought I was dying, when I was given up for dead and I cried unto the Lord, he heard me. He answered my prayers. And thus this great feeling of love for God because of this answered prayer and his deliverance from the grave, so to speak.

He was just about dead and yet the Lord healed him. And so his expression, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, because of this, I will call upon him as long as I live.

He really learned the value of calling upon the Lord. Because God has answered, because God has brought me from the grave, I will just call upon him as long as I live. For the sorrows of death had encircled me, had compassed me, the pains of hell.

Now, the word hell, translated hell, is the Hebrew word sheol. And the Hebrew word sheol meant the grave. And everyone who died was buried. So the grave is the idea of sheol. It isn't really the place of torment and suffering for the wicked dead.

It can mean that. But it meant the grave. And prior to the death of Jesus Christ, all of those who died went into sheol, the place of the departed dead, the souls of the dead. And at that time, sheol, Hades, hell, was divided into two compartments.

Abraham's Bosom and the Intermediate State

And Jesus speaks about this in Luke's Gospel, chapter 16, where the rich man, faring sumptuously every day, died and went to hell. The poor man who laid daily at his gate full of sores and survived from the crumbs that fell from the master's table, he also died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.

Abraham's bosom, contrasted, where the place of the rich man. And in hell, he lifted up his eyes being in torment, seeing Abraham afar off, Lazarus being comforted, said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus and so forth.

So that in the Old Testament, those saints who died, though they were saints, they went into sheol, the grave, into hell, where they were waiting for the fulfillment of God's promise. And the purpose of the coming of Christ was to set at liberty those that were bound and open up the prison doors.

And so when Christ died, he descended into hell, according to Acts, chapter 2, the message of Peter. And Peter's epistle, he speaks about it. And Paul also mentions it in Ephesians 4. And when he ascended, he led the captives from their captivity.

You see, it wasn't possible that they could enter into the heavenly scene apart from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Blood of bulls and goats could not put away their sins. It could cover their guilt or sins, but could not put away their sins.

It took the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to put away sins. And so the door to heaven wasn't open to man until Jesus put away our sins by his death upon the cross. Thus, now, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.

He that believeth on me, Abraham and the others, though they were dead, yet shall they live. And those that live and believe in me shall never die. We go immediately into the presence of the Lord. Paul said, we who are in these bodies do often groan, earnestly desire to be freed from our bodies, not to be an unembodied spirit.

I want to receive my new body, which is from heaven. For I know that as long as I'm living in this body, I'm absent from the Lord, but I would choose rather to be absent from this body than I might be present with the Lord.

And so I'll never die. I will move. And thank God for that. I would hate to think I was going to live forever in this body, as decrepit as it's getting. Thank God I'm going to move out of this old corruptible body into this building of God, this mansion that Jesus has gone to prepare for me.

And so my wife's going to send out change of address cards. Chuck moved out of the old worn-out tent and is now living in a beautiful mansion. They're in the presence of God, you see. But in the Old Testament, before the finished work of Christ upon the cross, all those who died, even in faith, went into the grave, into Sheol, where they were comforted in Abraham's bosom until the finished work of Christ, who went down, announced to them his victory.

When he broke the gates of hell, he led the captives from their captivity. And they now are with him in glory. So the psalmist is talking about the grave. The sorrows of death surrounded me. The pains of the grave got hold of me.

I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. The Lord is gracious and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. So notice verses 3, 4, and 5.

God's Grace, Righteousness, and Mercy

You that are interested in sermonizing, in verse 3, he talks about where I was. I was near death. I was dying. What I did, verse 4, I called upon the name of the Lord. And what I learned, the Lord is gracious.

He is righteous. He's merciful because he heard me. The fact that the God who created this universe will listen to your prayers when you're in trouble, when you're distressed, and you cry unto the Lord, he hears us.

That's just mind-boggling to me. God, as vast as he is, yet is concerned with you, listens to you when you call. That's marvelous. Not only does he listen, but he's gracious. He's righteous. He's fair.

He's just. Yes, and he is merciful. For the Lord preserveth the simple. Aren't you glad you're simple? I've met so many complex people. It's good to be simple. When you're two-faced and living a false kind of life, you have to be very complex.

When you're just you, you can be simple. I was brought low. Again, speaking about this experience of almost dying, I was brought low, but he delivered me. So return to thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.

You think of how good God has been. I can just rest in the Lord. I don't have to worry about things. I don't have to fret about things. It's amazing when we do get sick and we're weak, we begin to fret about things.

The Bible speaks in a very poetic sense about the person who becomes very aged where small little things become a big worry. Well, that's true when you're weak too. When you don't feel up to getting out of bed, the washing can seem just monstrous and the house is just overwhelming and all when you're not feeling good and you begin to worry about all these things.

What's going to happen? All of these worries and fears and anxieties begin to grip your heart. But then when the Lord comes through, he answers your prayers and you're feeling great again, you say, well, return to thy rest, O my soul.

Go back to just resting in God because God has dealt bountifully with thee. God has been good. 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'm going to live. And because I'm going to live, I'm going to walk before the Lord. Now notice the I wills of Psalm 16. Verse 2, I will call upon him as long as I live. Verse 9, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

Verse 13, I will take the cup of salvation. Verse 14, I will pay my vows. And verse 17, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. So the I wills of the text. Incidentally, through Psalm 118 are the Hallel Psalms.

These are the psalms that are sung during the Feast of the Passover. Now, the fact that Jesus sang this psalm with his disciples before going out to the Garden of Gethsemane gives a lot of interesting interpretation if you want to interpret this as being Jesus Christ, and prophetically, and it's very possible.

Much of the prophecy had a two-fold fulfillment. Chuck Missler's taught you that, and he's correct in that issue. He tells you to prove everything else, but I'll let you know that Chuck's correct in that one.

Some of the things I, you know, well, they're interesting. The guy can dig up more stuff than I ever thought existed. But, and I love to hear his tapes. But if you look at this prophetically, as much scripture can be interpreted in a dual sense, the immediate, but then there's the prophetic aspect to it, and that's true of many of the psalms.

And if you think of this as prophetic, of Jesus' death on the cross and all, then thinking of Jesus singing it, knowing that it was a reference to him, as he sang, the disciples didn't know. This could be one of the psalms that Jesus explained to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus as he opened up the scriptures to them, and from Moses and on through the prophets, he expounded how that these were all talking about him, about his death and all, and his resurrection.

And here you have the death and the resurrection. You know, the pains of hell, the grave, sorrows of death encircled me. And the Lord was gracious. He rose from the dead. God kept his word. I believed, the psalmist said, therefore have I spoken, and I was greatly afflicted.

In my haste I said, all men are liars. Be careful what you say in haste. Words spoken in haste often have to be recounted and recanted. It's best to just cool down before you speak. So then the important question, what?

The Cup of Salvation and Giving Ourselves to God

Here I am. I am living really because of God's grace and God's mercy. God healed me. I should have died. I should have gone. But God preserved me. Therefore, what shall I render to the Lord? What can I give to God for all of his benefits towards me?

Here God has given me life. What can I give to God? In reality, there is nothing of a material sense that we can give to God that isn't his already. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, all they that dwell therein.

God doesn't need anything from us. I mean, it's ludicrous to think of giving to God from a material standpoint, as though God needed something from me materially. And thus, when I think about giving to God, it has to be in the realm of spirit or myself.

I read this story one time of a mission service where when they passed the offering plate, there was this old Indian who was sitting in the back row. And as the usher held out the plate, he said, Lower it, please.

And so the usher put it. He said, Lower it more. He kept saying lower it until the usher just sort of put it on the floor, and the Indian just stood in the plate. And he said, That's all I have to give.

And really, that's what God wants. He wants you. You know, I think that a lot of times we try to sort of buy our way. In other words, you know, here, God, you know, we give him of our substance when he wants us.

I don't have time for you this week, lords. I'll put an extra five in the offering, you know, and hope that, you know, satisfies. No, he wants you. He's looking for that fellowship with you. That's why he created you.

That's what he longs for. Just you, time with you, fellowship with you, giving yourself to him. So it's interesting. The psalmist said, What shall I give to God? But then he starts out by saying, I will take the cup of salvation.

Now, it's interesting thinking about giving to God. The first thing you do is talk about what you're going to take. You say, Well, that doesn't make sense, does it? I mean, what shall I give to God? Well, I'll take the cup of salvation.

But it makes real sense. Because I cannot give anything to God until I first have taken the cup of salvation and thus have a relationship with God. You see, it is our sin that broke the fellowship. It is our sin that separated us from God.

It's sin that stands in the way between you coming to God. And thus, we have to first of all receive the forgiveness of our sins. That cup of salvation that was offered to us by Jesus Christ. I will take the cup of salvation.

And then I will call upon the name of the Lord. Once I've taken the cup of salvation, the door is open for my prayers. The door is open for communion. I can now call upon God because I've been washed and cleansed of my sin.

I've received the cup of salvation. I will pay my vows unto the Lord, now in the presence of all his people. Now, in another psalm, David said, I will pay my vows that I made in the day in which I was in trouble.

Well, this psalmist was in trouble. Whether it was David or not, we don't know for sure. But he was in trouble. He was dying. He thought he was gone. And he probably made a lot of promises to God. God, if you just heal me.

God, if you just let me live. You know, I'll really live right, Lord. I'll really serve you, Lord. And so he says, I'm going to pay my vows unto the Lord in the presence of all of his people. Makes you think it was probably David in a public figure like that.

The things that you do are always in the presence of all of the people.

We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse venture through the Bible in our next lesson. As Pastor Chuck Smith continues to guide us through the study of the psalms, and we do hope you'll make plans to join us.

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That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. Now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith with today's closing comments.

May the Lord bless you and keep His hand upon you, guide you with His counsels, and keep you in His strength. May you rest upon Him, and may you experience His strength and His love. And may God help you to really come into a full understanding and knowledge where it isn't just hearing Him with the hearing of the ear, but is really coming to apprehend, to see God, to see the truth of God.

You might be strengthened knowing that God is with you and shall sustain you as His child.

The Word for Today would like to invite you to come along on a revolutionary study of the Bible as we introduce Pastor Chuck's Genesis commentary in an e-book format. Not only will you have Pastor Chuck's in-depth commentary, this e-book allows access to enhanced research studies by honored Christian scholars instantly.

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