Deliverance in a Faithful God

Psalm 119:153-160

POP

Christian faithfulness is a calling to stand firm in the eternal hope of God's promises.

Kids

We have hope because God provides salvation to those who seek Him.

I. Faithfulness is standing firm in the salvation of God.

Psalm 119:153-156 “Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law. Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise! Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes. Great is your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to your rules.”

Imperatives 153-154; convey desperation

Look

Deliver

Plead

Redeem

Give me life

Total dependency on God = Plead my cause + redeem me = give me life!

Verse 155, contrast to 153-154: Foundation of salvation is the Word of God. The wicked are far from salvation because they do not seek God’s Word. However, the one afflicted is delivered, pleaded for, and redeemed because “...do not forget your law...” (153)

The only reason any of us know this salvation is in recognition to the great mercy of God.

Grace is shown to the undeserving; mercy is compassion to the miserable. Thus the synonym for mercy is compassion. Mercy, however, is not simply feeling compassion. Mercy exists when something is done to alleviate distress.

R. Kent Hughes

Give me life according to your rules can seem a daunting request. How can we ever go to God and stand before him in request according to His rules?

The Psalmist understands the rootedness of God’s mercy.

1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

If we have life, it is according to the mercy of God. If we have protection, it is according to the mercy of God. If we have food and sustenance, it is of God’s mercy. If we have providence to guide us, it is surely in the mercy of God.

A. W. Tozer

II. Faithfulness is standing firm on the Word of God.

Psalm 119:157-158 “Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies. I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.”

Many are my persecutors and my adversaries...

1 John 4:4 “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Why does the Psalmist continually remain faithful to the Word of God?

Because he knows it is true.

Because he knows it has life.

A child being held by their father in the pool/ocean. Joy and fear are mixed. The child clinges to the father because they know apart from their father they do not stand a chance.

As we can see in this same stanza, the Psalmist finds his life rooted in the truths of God’s Word.

Psalm 119:160 “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”

“Nothing these people can say or do will make me abandon the path of righteousness laid down in God’s Word”

Allen Ross

This obedience is not legalism. It is loyalty to our Lord.

Danny Akin

III. Faithfulness is standing firm in the truth of God.

Psalm 119:159-160 “Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love. The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”

“Give me life according to...”

your promise (154)

your rules (156)

your steadfast love (159)

In these appeals for life we find a response to the message of God’s Word. He cries out to God alone to plead and redeem (154), then he appeals to the mercy of God (156), and lastely he appeals to his submission to God’s Word (159).

The truth is the sanctifier, and if we do not hear or read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification. We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding.

Charles Spurgeon

“Consider how I love your precepts...” The concept of showing love to God’s precepts is a following. the Psalmist is appealing to the evidence of keeping God’s Word and living God’s Word even though he faces affliction.

A faithful disciple of God’s Word is the one who rests in the truth of it to the point it is lived out.

“The Scriptures are as true in Genesis as in Revelation, and the five books of Moses are as inspired as the four Gospels”

Charles Spurgeon

Romans 10:8-9 “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”