Precious in the Sight of the Lord

Introduction

I was a sinner, less perfect than God. By conviction of the Holy Spirit I learned that my condition would incur the eternal condemnation of God if I did not submit to His grace. I acknowledged myself a sinner and threw myself on His mercy and grace, recognizing that He had brought salvation to earth through His Son Jesus Christ. After God the Father put God the Son to death on the cross, He could proclaim grace and pardon to all who would submit to Him. I came to the cross, believed His promise about His Son, and God declared me righteous even while I was ungodly and gave me authority to become His child. I ceased to be a child of wrath and became a child of God, justified from all things. Simultaneously, I was declared to be an heir of God, joint-heir with Jesus Christ. I received eternal life, and shall never perish. I was accepted in the Beloved; my body became the temple of the Holy Spirit; I was born of the Spirit into the family of God, baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. I have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for me. Although I know myself to be a sinner, I am not concerned about the penalty for sin, since the Lord Jesus Christ bore the penalty and declared me righteous. The love of Christ becomes the constraining factor in my life, and I seek to glorify Him as Lord. I know Him as my Creator and so have peace of mind. I know Him as Savior and so have peace of conscience. In the measure that I enter into the second rest, I know Him as Lord and find the peace that passes all understanding.

Commentary on Romans, eerdmans.com.

Donald Grey Barnhouse

Sermon Body

For the follower of Christ, there are no greater words than these, than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Explain the gospel

In Psalm 116 , we have a beautiful picture of this very thing. Though this immediate context of these words, penned by this writer ages ago, are in the context of physical suffering, and the threat of physical death, the picture is nonetheless clear.

Psalm 116

Psalm 116 ESV

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!” Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”; I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.” What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, 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 call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

Threat of death, Sheol (a term to describe death, the grave, the dwelling place of the dead - a hopeless and despairing place) plague this man and threatened him.

Death had come to knock and he was in despair.

Thomas Adams noted that...

All are like actors on a stage, some have one part and some another, death is still busy amongst us; here drops one of the players, we bury him with sorrow, and to our scene again: then falls another, yea all, one after another, till death be left upon the stage. Death is that damp which puts out all the dim lights of vanity. Yet man is easier to believe that all the world shall die, than to suspect himself.

A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 69. Thomas Adams

Like so many, he feared death and sought to avoid it, to be rescued from it.

So he cried out to God.

And God heard him.

And God preserved and delivered him from death.

This Psalm is a song of worship, celebration, of praise and thanksgiving as well as a song of submission and service because of the salvation, so great and true that was granted to him as a result of his prayers.

IT IS CRITICAL TO NOTE the personal and engaged interest of our God. He is not detached, indifferent, or uncaring. He is ENGAGED with his creation.

He is listening and responding to men’s calls for salvation.

No, this is not always salvation from physical death or suffering, but God is most assuredly in the business of saving souls from hell and judgment when they turn to him faith and repentance.

Psalm 116:10

Psalm 116:10 ESV

I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”;

He believed, in his affliction.

He trusted in his pain, in his fear, in his despair.

He trusted. He continued in trust.

This is what is necessary for the reality of salvation to fall upon us.

This bring us to verse 15 - the precious truth I want to draw out for a moment.

Psalm 116:15 is a bit of a quandary for me. It seems out of place.

In a Psalm dedicated to praying for deliverance and salvation from death, why now does it read

Psalm 116:15 ESV

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Why?

Because even in the event that God does not protect from physical suffering and death, death (FOR THE FOLLOWER OF JESUS) is not to be feared.

Death for the follower of Christ, for those who have trusted by faith, repented, and embraced the glorious news of the gospel, THE SAINT HAS IMMEDIATELY GONE INTO THE ETERNAL PRESENCE OF THE GOD WHO MADE THEM, THE SAVIOR WHO SAVED THEM, AND ALL THE SAINTS WHO HAVE GONE ON BEFORE.

Death is precious in God’s sight for the saint because it forever and perfectly units God and saint, Savior and forgiven child of God.

Even if deliverance from physical suffering and death is not prevented, death of the saint is precious in God’s eyes and is the home going that we all long for as his followers and children.

In our grieving over death today, we grieve not for the death of our loved one; our tears and our grief is for ourselves who for a time are deprived of the presence and the joy for the time being.

Our hope today, in a day of death comes because of the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is the that truth that gives up comfort and joy today.

It is the truth she would want you to hear should she be here today.

Conclusion

We must first be careful to present the gospel clearly – God, man, Christ, response. God is our holy Creator and righteous Judge. All people have sinned against Him, both in Adam as our corporate representative, and in our own lives individually. That sin deserves eternal death – separation from God in Hell. But God sent Jesus Christ to die the death we deserved for our sin and reconcile us to Him. And He requires that we repent of our sins – turn away from them – and believe in Jesus Christ’s divine righteousness and substitutionary sacrifice. When we do – and only then – God credits us with Christ’s righteousness, and begins to bring our character into conformity with His holiness.

Altar Call Evangelism, ©9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: [e-mail]. Toll Free: [phone]. Paul Alexander

When we do this, we can be assured that “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

Precious to God was Susan’s death. She is in his presence, delighting in God forevermore.

Those of us who have embraced, accepted, and believed the gospel, who have repented and who place our faith wholly in Jesus, we will see her again.

If you have not done this, let the final message of Susan’s life prompt you to pursue Christ. It is THE ONLY HOPE in our dying world.