Sermon series: A SUMMER IN THE PSALMS

Sermon Title: HELP FOR THE HELPLESS

Psalm 116
"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 pangs 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." 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.
O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in presence of all His people, in the court's of the Lord's house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!"

Personal love fostered by a personal experience of redemption is the theme of this Psalm, and in it we see the redeemed answered when they pray, preserved in time of trouble, resting in their God, walking at large, sensible of their obligations, conscious that they are not their own but bought with a price, and joining with all the ransomed company to sing hallelujahs unto God!
Psalm 116 is a song of thanksgiving...the heart of the song is a narrative of salvation. In a past predicament of life-threatening trouble (vv. 3, 10, 11), prayer was made (v.4); the Lord heard and helped (vv. 1, 2, 6, 8, 16). In the prayer vows of sacrifice and praise were made. Now the one who has been saved comes to the temple bringing sacrifice (vv. 13-14,17-19) and singing this song as thanksgiving to the Lord (vv. 8, 16) and as testimony about the goodness of the Lord (vv. 5, 6, 9, 15) to the people of the Lord.
In the Greek and Latin Bibles, Psalm 116 is divided into two psalms. Verses 1 through 9 appear as Psalm 114 and verses 10 through 19 as Psalm 115. In liturgical practice also, parts of the psalm have been used separately.
The affliction that was the occasion of prayers for God's help is not identified. Instead, it is characterized.

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The song opens with a declaration of love for the lord (v. l). The declaration attracts attention because of its uniqueness in the Psalter; there in only one direct parallel, the opening of the great thanksgiving Psalm 18, where a different verb is used. "I will love You, O Lord, my strength" (Psalm 18:1).
"I love the Lord," as introductory theme, defines the whole song as a declaration of love. The psalm says what form thankful love takes. First, love "calls on the name of the Lord." The lover calls out to the beloved by name. The psalmist was conscious of love; he felt it glowing in his soul; his heart was full of that peculiar joy, tenderness, kindness, peace, which love produces; and the source or reason for this, he says, was that the Lord had heard him in his prayers. The psalmist does not say that this was the only reason, or the main reason for loving Him, but that it was the reason for that peculiar joy of love which he felt in his soul.
When God answers our prayers, we too rejoice in loving adoration. Our heart is overwhelmed in the contemplation of grasping the truth that the Almighty God of the universe responded to our request! "Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not" (Jeremiah 33:3). Prayer is as illimitable as God's own blessed Son. There is nothing on earth or in heaven, for time or eternity, that God's Son did not secure for us. By prayer God gives us the vast and matchless inheritance which is ours by virtue of His Son. God charges us to "come boldly to the throne of grace." God is glorified and Christ is honored by large asking. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession...according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26-27).
E. M. Bounds writes: Prayer is our need crying out for help. Prayer is the voice of faith to the Father. Prayer is the Living Word in lips of faith. Prayer is the channel through which all good flows from God to man, and all good from men to men. Prayer is a privilege, a sacred, princely privilege. Prayer is a duty, an obligation most binding, and most imperative, which should hold us to it. But prayer is more than a privilege, more than a duty. It is a means, an instrument, a condition. It is the appointed condition of getting God's aid. It is the avenue through which God supplies man's wants and needs."
Our psalmist says: "I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplication, because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live. Yes! We should rejoice when our prayers are answered...but let me suggest that we ought to love and serve God whether He hears our prayers or not!
Let me say that differently...God always hears our prayers, but He may choose to answer them in a way that we did not consider, or He may choose to keep silent! Sometimes there is joy and sometimes there is sorrow, but God knows best!

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Men and women have worshipped God even when they have had no evidence that He heard their prayers; and some of the most pure acts of devotion on earth are those which come from the very depths of darkness and sorrow.
"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls--Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17-18)
Not only does love call out to the lover, BUT LOVE FINDS REST IN THE BELOVED" (v.7). The soul freed from distress and anguish goes where the beloved is to shelter in God's keeping. Third, love lives always as if in the presence of the beloved (v.9). It keeps the Lord always present to memory and will. Fourth, love fulfills its vows to the beloved (vv. 14-18). Promises made are promises kept. Faithfulness in the keeping of promises binds the saved to the Savior. The promises are kept in public, "before all the people of the Lord," as a witness of love to the one who is loved. Fifth, love serves the beloved. A servant is one whose life is defined by belonging to another. "Lord, I am your servant, the child of Your serving girl" (v.l6) is a declaration of unconditional, everlasting fealty and devotion.
Verse 2 of our psalm says: "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me; I found trouble and sorrow." David is describing his condition and despair and desperation for his prayer.
As hunters surround a stag with dogs and men, so that no way of escape is left, so was David enclosed in a ring of deadly griefs. The bands of sorrow, weakness, and terror with which death is accustomed to bind men ere he drags them away to their long captivity were all around him (Spurgeon). The sorrows of death...what an expression! We know of no more intense sorrows pertaining to this world than those which we associate with the dying struggle-—whether our views in regard to the reality of such sorrows be correct or not. We may be—we probably are—mistaken in regard to the intensity of suffering as ordinarily experienced in death; but still we dread those sorrows more than we do anything else, and all that we dread may be experienced then. Those sorrows, therefore, become the representation of the most intense forms of suffering; and such, the psalmist says, he experienced on the occasion to which he refers in this prayer.
THEN I CALLED UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD! Jesus said: "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask any thing in my name, I will do it" (John 14:13-14). Maybe David addressed Almighty God as Adonai (Lord)...but we as Christians in our times of deep distress call upon the name of Jesus! He is our Lord, our God, our Master.
Over and over again in the Scriptures we read, "In My name," "In Jesus’ name," or "In His name." Jesus told His disciples that "even the devils are subject unto us through His name" (Luke 10:17).

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Let's take a moment and think about what it means to pray "in Jesus name."
"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Among the first apostolic miracles after Pentecost was the raising of the lame man at the gate of the Temple. To that man Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee; In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" (Acts 3:6). In making later explanation of this miracle Peter said: "And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know" (Acts 3:16).
Though there are many other references to His name, it will suffice to summarize by Paul's exhortation in Colossians 3:17, "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."
Let me suggest that a basic understanding of what it means to pray in Jesus' name will not only serve to prevent wrongful praying but also will open the door into a level of prayer heretofore unknown to most of us. There are three illustrations which may help us to understand the using of Jesus' name in our prayers.
Illustration #1. Exodus 4 introduces the ROD OF MOSES. You will remember that Moses had begun his ministry, forty years before, only to miserably fail in his own energy (the slaying of the Egyptian). God has reissued the call and made clear that He (God) would provide the power by which the people of God would be delivered from Egyptian bondage. After that discourse in Exodus 3 Moses said, "But, behold, they will not believe me nor hearken unto Thee" (Exodus 4:1). What followed was a unique experience with Moses' rod. He was ordered by the Lord to throw it down, whereupon it immediately became a snake. Moses did the only sensible thing to do, he fled! But the Lord called him back, now ordering him to pick it up again—this time by the tail! As Moses obeyed, the serpent became a rod again in Moses' hand! That rod, in the hand of Moses, now was the credential of authority, calling that God was into the situation. With that rod (and all that it implied) Moses defeated the magicians of Egypt, brought the plagues upon the land, opened the Red Sea for that miraculous crossing, brought water out of the rock, and defeated Amalek in the Valley of Rephidim! May I suggest that all that the rod was in the hand of Moses, the name of Jesus is to us! It brings all that God is in Christ into the situation prayed for as well as the one who prays it.
Illustration #2. This illustration comes from benefits associated with marriage. It is customary in most lands that the bride bear the name of the husband. In the marriage ceremony she is legally placed INTO the name of her husband. Let us suppose that a bride is very poor. She has no money in the bank, no real estate, no borrowing power, no earning power, no record of any monetary worth. But the moment she becomes "Mrs." she moves out of the realm of her past and into all that the name of her husband means. (Of course this illustration will not be applicable where pre-nuptial agreements are in force).

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For the purpose of my illustration, I am suggesting that this poor girl married a very wealthy person who now makes her a partner in all his wealth!
As Christians, we are the BRIDE OF CHRIST! "For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:30-31).
Christ is the Bridegroom, we are the Bride of Christ.
"I am jealous for you with a godly jealously. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him" (2 Cor. 11:2).
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride had made herself ready" (Revelation 19:7). "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory." (Romans 8:16-17). Please let me say this reverently...The Church (the Bride of Christ which is born-again Christians) "betrothed to become Mrs. Jesus," if you please, has been authorized to operate in the name of Jesus!
Illustration #3 This illustration comes from the legal field—the power of attorney. As you know this is a legal arrangement whereby one person may represent another in his absence in certain or all matters which require his signature. Jesus has given every believer unlimited and general power of attorney in all matters and with this the right to use His name, His authority in matters that are purposed to bring Him honor and glory and praise!
WITH THESE ILLUSTRATIONS IN MIND LET US VIEW THE CONSIDERATIONS AT HAND WHICH ARE INVOLVED IN PRAYING IN THE NAME OF JESUS!
(1) The first is RENUNCIATION. When we respond to the command to pray in Jesus' name, we are admitting the bankruptcy of our own name and resources. We are renouncing our own worth and merit at the throne of grace. Like the bride coming from abject poverty to marry the wealthy husband, we may sing, "Out of my want and into Thy wealth...Jesus, I come to Thee."
(2) The second word is IDENTIFICATION. To pray in Jesus' name is to pray under an assumed name, but the assumption is perfectly legal and duly encouraged! We are to pray in identity with the person of Jesus. Think about it! He died for you. When you by faith identified with that death, it was savingly effective for you. You entered into the penalty for all your sins in Him. Further, you, being placed into Him by the Holy Spirit, may identify with Him in resurrection. If He died, then you died also. "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)
We are identified with Him in victory over the devil.
In His name we have the same authority over the powers

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He has! We are identified with Him at His coming. We shall be identified with Him in the ages to come! We stand in a position of total identification. "As He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17).
(3) The third word is POSSESSION. Jesus has literally given us His name! It is ours by legal possession. What does that mean? What is in a name? All that the name means is all that the person means. A person is identified by his name. All that Jesus was, His name is and to have His name is to have Himself. He has given us Himself, represented by His name. "And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all" (Ephesians 1:22-23). Did you notice the words, "and gave Him...to the church"?
I then have the liberty to say in every situation, "For this I have Jesus." He is in His name. When I use that name, I am confessing that He is mine and that I am His!
(4) Our next word is SUBMISSION. As Jesus' authority rested with His submission to the Father, so our authority rests with our submission to Him! To pray in His name is to ask by His authority; and to ask by His authority is to ask in accordance with His will as revealed in His Word. "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14-15). Thus submission to the will of God is a vital matter in praying in Jesus' name.
As I pray in Jesus' name, I am identifying with all His desires and determinations for mankind. I am admitting that all of what I ask for is for Jesus' sake.
(5) The next word for our consideration is REPRESENTATION. As I come to the Father in Jesus' name, I am fulfilling my privilege of representing Him and His interests here on earth. Having the power of attorney means that I can act in His name, in His behalf, in accord with His best interests in every matter pertaining to Him. Mystery of mysteries, Jesus desires that I represent Him in prayer in praying for the lost, for His Church, and for His divine mission here on earth.
(6) The last word is EXPECTATION. Since we pray in Jesus' name we may expect the answer in accord with the value of His name. So we pray with a great and excited expectation. We come to the throne of grace at the invitation of and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and have every right to expect exactly what would be expected if Jesus Himself were praying...and indeed He is by His Spirit that dwells within us!
In the Amplified Version of the Bible, each time that the words "the name of Jesus" occur there are added these words in parentheses, "Presenting all that He is." When I pray in His name, I am presenting to the Father all that is in that name, which is all that He is, as a reason for my accessibility to the throne as well as the reason to expect to be heard and answered.
Now I have gone into greater length on this matter, but I believe it to be exceedingly important. When we pray in accordance with Scripture, we will have reason to say with the Psalmist..."I love the Lord because He has

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heard my supplications."
Our Psalmist tells us what God did in answering his prayers..."For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." His pain is gone, as his eyes are free from tears and feet from falling (into the grave? v.8).
He knows God as the God of the supernatural. He is no distant Creator who has wound up the universe and then left it to others. He is no God of nature who is locked out of our lives by a closed universe. He is no mystical blur, aloof from our physical pain, who calls us into an undifferentiated spirituality. He is the living God, Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer. When we cry to Him, He answers! When we are in pain. He knows and He cares! "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Charles Spurgeon writes on verse 8:
"The triune God has given us a trinity of deliverances; our life has been spared from the grave, our heart has been lifted from its griefs, and our course in life has been preserved from dishonor. We ought not to be satisfied unless we are conscious of all three of these deliverances. If our soul has been saved from death, why do we weep? What cause for sorrow remains? Whence those tears? And if our tears have been wiped away, can we endure to fall again into sin? Let us not rest unless with steady feet we pursue the path of the upright, escaping every snare and shunning every stumbling block. Salvation, joy, and holiness must go together, and they are all provided for us in the covenant of grace. Death is vanquished, tears are dried, and fears are banished when the Lord is near.
John, in the Revelation, sees the saints..."Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:15-17).
WHEN THE PSALMIST GRASPS THE WONDROUS WORK OF GOD IN ANSWERING HIS PRAYER, HE THEN ASKS HIMSELF..."What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? What return can be equal to His bounties: what will be a proper acknowledgment of them; with what can I repay Him for them all? The question is a natural and proper question. It is one which we naturally ask when we have received a favor from our fellow-mortals; how much more proper is it in view of the divine favors which we have received and will receive from God Almighty?-—especially in view of the mercy of God in the gift of a Saviour; the love manifested in the redemption of our soul! What can be an adequate return for love like that,--for mercies so great, so undeserved?

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The Psalmist answers his question as to how he will express his love to Jehovah God..."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." (v. 13-14).
This action suggested by the Psalmist may have had its beginning as recorded in Numbers 28:7. Along with other sacrifices, the priest was instructed with these words: "The accompanying drink offering is to be a quarter of a hin of fermented drink with each lamb. Pour out the drink offering to the Lord at the sanctuary." In the Torah drink offerings were meant to be drunk by the priest only. In this Psalm, and at the Last Supper, God offers the cup of salvation to all believers. It is our custom today in our modern world to touch glasses, and then to drink to each other's health. To take the cup of salvation was in itself an act of worship, and it was accompanied with other forms of adoration, hence the Psalmist says, "and call upon the name of the Lord."
He means that he will utter blessings and thanksgivings and prayers, and then drink of the cup which the Lord had filled with His saving grace. "What a cup this is! Upon the table of infinite love stands the cup full of blessing; it is ours by faith to take it in our hand, make it our own, and partake of it, and then with joyful hearts to laud and magnify the gracious One who has filled it for our sakes that we may drink and be refreshed. " (Spurgeon).
When we bow each Lord's Day and confess our sins, we then lift the cup of salvation to our lips in witness to the promise of forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ.
The Psalmist says that in response to all that Jehovah has done for him, he "will pay his vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people." (v.l4). The vows which he had made in anguish, he now determines to fulfill. Vows become debts. The Psalmist is determined to take his relationship to God very seriously and live out his promises that he has made to God. There are times in our deepest distress, we tell God what we will do if He gets us out of our situation. Too frequently those promises are not kept, and our disobedience effects our fellowship with our God! In the dark night of sickness we tell God that we will serve Him with all our strength if He will heal us. Health comes and the promise is forgotten. We find ourselves suffering financial shortage so we promise God that if He will change our financial status with a new job, then we will begin to tithe our income. We get the new job, but God doesn't get His sacred portion! Gratitude to God for all His wonderful benefits bestowed upon us is repaid in keeping our vows.
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (v.15). The idea here is that the death of saints is an object of value; that God regards it as of importance; that it is connected with His great plans, and that there are great purposes to be accomplished by it. For the saint, his earthly journey is completed. For God, He has the joy of welcoming His child home to be with Him forever!