Personal Salvation

In this Psalm we see a saint of God giving the Lord glory for saving him. The context suggests the writer was sick, near death, and the Lord healed him. It is positioned among the Egyptian Hallel psalms. That may seem odd at first. We should remember that corporate salvation implies individual salvation. The Jews were not only to remember that God rescued the nation. They were to remember what God had done for them each individually.

Notice the personal nature of the Psalm:

I will call on Him (2)

I called on the name of the Lord (4)

I will call on the name of the Lord (13)

I will call on the name of the Lord (17)

Let’s look at what we can learn about personal salvation from this Psalm.

1. We love the Lord because He first loved us (1-2).

“I love the Lord because”

What would you say? Could you give a list of reasons? I hope you could.

“He heard my voice and my pleas for mercy”

“He inclined His ear to me”

In Egypt Israel called upon God and He heard them. If a nation can call on the Lord then an individual can as well. The Psalmist recognizes that God cared enough for Him to hear his prayers. His response to the goodness of God was to love the Lord.

God has expressed His love towards us in many ways:

The good things in your life

The provisions to live daily

People who love you

Jesus dying for your sins

How have you responded to that? Is your response to love Him back? The Lord loves you there is no doubt. Do you love the Lord?

God has answered so many of our prayers. The greatest prayer He ever answered was when we prayed that He would save our souls. When He answered that prayer, it proved that He loved us.

Do you love the Lord?

Are you like the leper who returned to give God praise for healing him?

2. We remember how God has rescued us (3-4).

The Psalmist was so sick he was near death. He was surrounded by death. It drew near him. He had excruciating pain in his body. Physical suffering

The pain was not only physical. It was emotional as well. When death draws near it can be a frightening thing. Especially under the Old Covenant when one did not have the amount of revelation we have concerning death.

The Psalmist is in physical pain.

The Psalmist is afraid he is about to die.

He is probably lying in a bed. There is nothing doctors nor priests can do for him. He s at the mercy of the Lord.

Look at verse 4. He called on the name of the Lord. We even have his prayer recorded.

“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!” In other words, deliver me fully!

Do you see how simple salvation is? It is as simple as calling on the name of the Lord.

I could list some ways the Lord has answered prayers for me concerning lesser salvation. By lesser salvations I mean the Lord has delivered me from many troubles. But I want to focus on the greater salvation for a moment. I remember when God saved my soul from hell.

I felt the pains of conviction in my soul.

I felt as if I were going to go to hell.

I felt like one who was in bondage and unable to free myself.

In repentance and faith, I called on the name of the Lord. God saved me! God rescued me! God forgave me!

Do you remember the greater salvation in your life? If you have been rescued surely you can point to how God has rescued you. Salvation is personal. God saves each of us from the penalty and power of our sins.

3. We appreciate the goodness of God (5-7).

In these verses we have a beautiful description of the God who saves us.

v. 5 He is gracious- God loves us. He is willing to forgive us.

He is righteous- He has made us promises that He will keep.

He is merciful- in our sin He is compassionate towards us. He cares for us and extends help though we do not deserve it.

v. 6 The simple are the foolish. They are weak. They are unlearned. They are unable to care for themselves. God preserves them. The Psalmist includes himself among the simple when he says, “when I was brought he saved me.”

God will always bring us low before He saves us. He will humble us. He will show us our own sin. He will remind us of our foolishness. He will show us we cannot save ourselves.

v. 7 Here he speaks to himself. He says “Return, o my soul, to your rest!”

He had not been able to rest. He was in pain. He was near death. Now the Lord has dealt bountifully with him.

Our rest is found in God.

In your sin, find your rest in God. “Come unto Me…”

In your troubles, find your rest in God. “All things are working together…”

In death, find your rest in God. “He that believeth in Me though He were dead yet shall He live…”

God is good. His Word reveals that. We must trust the Word of God. We must speak to ourselves. When you find yourself worried or falling to pieces find your rest in God. Fix your heart and mind on His promises.

If you are saved you know that God is good. He is so good that He saved you. There are times when we simply need to remind ourselves that He is good.

4. We experience God in our daily walk (8-11).

The Psalmist looked back and saw that the Lord delivered him. Look at how he describes his deliverance.

My soul from death

God has delivered us from the second death. That is the ultimate death. But how many times has He delivered us from death in this world? He preserves us daily.

A car accident

A disease

A cancer caught early

A blocked vein or valve caught in the nick of time

We will only die physically once. How many times has God kept us from dying? We have no idea.

My eyes from tears. How many times has the Lord dried our tears. There is a time to mourn. There is good reason to mourn. But the Lord always dries our tears. There is always comfort for the believer. Joy always comes in the morning.

My feet from stumbling. God keeps us. We are saved. God saved us. But God keeps us two. We remain on the straight and narrow because the Good Shepherd keeps us there!

v. 9 He recognizes that he is alive because of God. Do we rise up each day with gratitude? We should recognize that every day is a gift. It is a blessing to live in this world. To be in the land of the living with those we love and those who love us is a treasure.

v. 10 Notice he admits he was greatly afflicted. The believer is not immune from trials. This man was in trouble. Even when he was afflicted, he believed. Some people will tell you not to confess certain things. They are deceived by false doctrine. They will tell you if you say “I am sick” you are receiving the sickness. That’s not the case. The Christian lives in reality. It is ok to say, “I am afflicted.” It doesn’t mean you don’t believe. It means that even though you are afflicted you still believe. When trials come don’t stop trusting God.

v. 11 Men were telling him things that were not true. Perhaps in his sickness they were telling him God did not care for him. Perhaps they were telling him he would die. Perhaps they were telling him prayer weas vain. He chose not to believe man but to believe the promises and character of God.

We have a choice in our trials. Will we trust man or God? God had not given the Psalmist a reason to not trust Him. He knew man well enough to know that mankind cannot always be trusted.

You and I will need a lot of rescuing in this world. Will we trust God or man to rescue us?

5. We should be thankful to the Lord (12-14).

The Psalmist recognizes he should respond to the goodness of God. God has rescued him. What should he do for all that God has done for him?

We see two things:

1) I will lift up the cup of my salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

In The OT there was a drink offering (Numbers 28:7). That offering was poured out to the Lord. It appears this cup is taken. Some see a reference to the cups taken during the celebration of the Passover meal. We are reminded of the cup that Jesus and His disciples took at the Last Supper.

There is a great lesson here. The proper response to the goodness of God is to take His salvation. This is how we honor God. We could never repay Him for all He has done. We honor Him by accepting what He offers. To take God’s salvation and through prayer praise Him is the best we can do all God has done for us.

2) I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

The Psalmist will do what he has promised to do. He will publicly live out his faith.

Notice the though of these verses are repeated in verses 17-19. Verse 19 shows that he will not only live his faith when in the Temple. He will also live his faith in the city.

Together we see what God requires of us. We are to take His salvation and live it out publicly. That is how we thank the Lord for all He has done for us.

6. We understand that we belong to the Lord and He cares for us (15-16).

I love verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of His saints. What does that mean. It means that He is concerned with our death.

God is concerned when we are dying. We may die slowly. If we do, God will be there. Paul rejoiced that in his final days in that Roman prison “the Lord stood with me.”

You may be isolated from all your family and friends. You may be hooked up to machines. You may be unconscious. The Lord will be with you. Your death is precious to Him.

Spurgeon said of this verse:

“The Lord watches over their dying beds, smooths their pillows, sustains their hearts, and receives their souls.”

God is concerned with us before our death.

God is concerned with us as we are dying.

God is concerned with us after we die.

It was after Lazarus died that Jesus wept. He went to Lazarus’ funeral.

One of the heart-breaking things for families is when few people attend the funeral of those they loved. I will tell it is Christlike to attend funerals. Say what you want but it is Christlike. It shows you care.

The death of a saint is precious to the Lord because the saint is coming home. The saint will see the Lord. That is the most precious thing about the death of a saint. To clarify, if you are saved you are a saint!

Notice I verse 17 how the Psalmist is showing he belongs to the Lord. Two times he says he is the Lord’s servant. Then he says that his mother was a servant of the Lord. He is one of those who has been set free from the bondage of sin. He belongs to God.

Note he is set free from bonds, but he remains a servant. When we are saved, we merely change masters. All of us are servants. Servants of sin or servants of God.

As we close let’s consider what he says about his mother. What a wonderful thing it is when mother and child belong to the Lord! The Lord is likely the only one who cares more for the Psalmist than his mother does.

Ther is one who cares more for us than our own mother does. That means we should care more for Him than we do our own mother.

Do you have a personal salvation?

Has Christ saved you?

I pray He has.