5. Help from a Righteous Lord! Psalm 71:19-24

Text: “Thou, which hast showed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.”

Psalm 71:20.

Good morning, victorious, senior Christian!  Your many years of life - a portion of which have been spent as a Spiritually regenerate Christian servant of Christ Jesus - has contained much experience of what the Psalmist calls ‘sore troubles’ – fears within, fightings without, instances of gross and personal failings and numerous exposures of very human faults and mistakes, as well as great victories and seeing souls saved, through the preaching/teaching of the Gospel of Christ Crucified. 

Yet, out of ALL this – the Lord God has never failed to ‘quicken’ you and I again, and again, dust us off, sanctify us afresh by the Blood of the Lamb, fill us afresh with God the Spirit, and grant us, not only His matchless grace and forgiveness, but a sure and certain victory over our most deadly oppressors, critics, and detracting enemies.  Hallelujah!  In Christ Jesus we are more than conquerors!  Glory, all glory, to His Holy Name!

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him (Jesus Christ) that loved us.”  (Romans 8:37-39)

Verse 19. “Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto Thee!  There is, of course, no one that has done anything infinitely close to what the Living Lord God, the Creator of all things, the Author of Salvation, has done – for Hell-deserving sinners such as we.  Glory to the Lord God of all Sovereign grace and mercy to gross sinners such as we.  The Lord God is our Divine helper. Praise His Name!

Resurrection: “The fact of our Lord’s resurrection rests on evidence which no infidel can ever explain away. It is confirmed by testimony of every kind, sort, and description. The plain unvarnished story which the Gospel writers tell about it, is one that cannot be overthrown. The more the account they give is examined, the more inexplicable will the event appear, unless we accept it as true. If we choose to deny the truth of their account, we may deny everything in the world. It is not so certain that Julius Caesar once lived, as it is that Christ rose again.

“Let us cling firmly to the resurrection of Christ, as one of the pillars of the Gospel. It ought to produce in our minds a settled conviction of the truth of Christianity. Our faith does not depend merely on a set of texts and doctrines. It is founded on a mighty historical fact which the sceptic has never been able to overturn. It ought to assure us of the certainty of the resurrection of our own bodies after death. If our Master has risen from the grave, we need not doubt that His disciples shall rise again at the last day.” (J.C. Ryle 1816-1900, The Resurrection, Apprising Ministries, online)

Verse 20. “Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again (bring me from death to life again), and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.  Mature, senior-aged Christians, have experienced vast experiences – some wonderful, some horrible, throughout many years of seeking to serve the risen Lord Jesus Christ.  One of the great Bible truths that has encouraged us down through the years, gave us necessary strength and fortitude to continue on in ‘…the faith once delivered unto the saints…’, has been the reality of our promised resurrection from the dead, to be with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, forever.  Wow!  Just the thought of spending Eternity in Heaven with Christ Jesus is such a wonderous source of continuing strength and perseverance in Christian faith!  Hallelujah!  True Christians are conquerors over death itself!  Glory to the Lamb!

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  So, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass this saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  O Death where is thy sting?  O grave where is thy victory?  The sting of Death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye KNOW that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”  (1 Corinthians 15:52-58)

Verse 22. “I will also praise Thee. There is nothing as woeful, in my mind, than the professing Christian devoid of a ‘Hallelujah!’ of praise to the Lord God Jehovah.  One small thought of the resurrection of Spiritually regenerate believers, should immediately cause our hearts to reveal true joy, through the opening of our lips in fervent praise to the Lord God.  We praise Thy Name, oh Thou Holy One of Israel!  Glory and praise to Thee, oh God!

Verse 23. “…and my soul, which Thou hast redeemed. Soul-singing is the soul of singing.  Till men are redeemed, they are like instruments out of tune; but when once the precious Blood has set them at liberty, then are they fitted to magnify the Lord Who bought them.  Our being bought with a price is a more than sufficient reason for our dedicating ourselves to the earnest worship of God, our Saviour.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, pages 307-308)

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation (entire lifestyle) received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.”         (1 Peter 1:18-19)

Let us make the unsaved world all around us KNOW we belong to Christ – sing it out!

Silence is not always golden – often it is just merely YELLOW!  Speak out, Christian!

“How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach, except they be sent?  As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”  (Romans 10:14-15)

Thought: Verse 24. “My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all the day long. I will talk to myself, and to Thee, my God, and to my fellow-men: my theme shall be Thy way of justifying sinners, the glorious display of Thy righteousness and grace in Thy dear Son; and this most fresh and never-to-be-exhausted subject shall be ever with me, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 308)