Featured Sermon

From Death to New Life, Rev. Rogers Kirk

Psalms 116:1-116:1

One of the worst things you can do is stop believing in you as well as the God above you who is at work within you. It’s sad; it’s shameful; yes, it is downright sinful when you allow all that goes wrong in life to get you down and to beat you down to the point where from within you simply doubt—you doubt yourself, you doubt the providential, sovereign hand of God working and residing within; you doubt yourself; you doubt the God Who is at work in your very situation; you doubt your ability to get things done; and, believe it or not, you doubt if God will ever come through for you in a dead and a death-likening situation.

If I can be real with you today—every now and then in life, life will beat you down, press you down and weigh you down to the extent where you will find yourself in a dead situation where you have no confidence, assurance, peace, joy; you don’t believe in yourself; you don’t believe that things are going to work out for you; and you don’t believe that God will come through for you.

But here is the good news today—and that is that you can live with the faith, assurance, and the confidence that basically and simply declares that regardless and irrespective of what is going on WITH you, you believe ULTIMATELY that God is FOR you and therefore, as a direct consequence, you live under the motto “God’s got my back”.

I was reading a story about a little boy who went to school every single day and went to school every day was beat up by this bully. But then one day that boy went to school with new confidence and the bully came at him and tried to take his lunch and the boy said ‘you better back down before you get smacked down.’ And the bully said you must be crazy, give me your lunch. The boy said ‘ain’t no way’. And guess what—the boy hit the bully. The bully them came at him then out from around the building came the boy’s big brother who was home from the service. And when the big brother came from around the corner he said, ‘you better back up off my little brother!’ Why did the little boy who had gotten beat up every day by the bully have this new confidence? It was because he had the confidence that his big brother had his back. And it dawned on me while thinking about that story—that if we move through life recognizing that God’s got our back—you will move through your dead and your hopeless situation with the kind of new confidence that has the power and the potency to lift you up when you have either been thrown away or beaten down by the pressures of this life. Why? The Word of God reminds us that for those of us who have been saved and redeemed—we have an Elder Brother! And not only is He with us and among us but He is working on the inside of us while we are going through what we are going through. The Bible puts it this way: Greater is He that is in ME than HE that is in the world.

I understand that life can get you down and wear you down and tear and mess you up and as a result—death can come in and threaten to overtake you and to hold you hostage….And I’ve come to declare to you today—I don’t know who you are—but God knew that you would show up today—to remind you that He specializes in shifting the atmosphere from death to deliverance; and to teach and train to understand unequivocally that you are to never place a period where God puts a comma—Why? Because God specializes in turning my dead end into a detour—and therefore, your disappointment may merely be a divine appointment to demonstrate and show how ready able He is to sustain to unsustainable.

Psalm 116

This Psalm is a 4th of what is commonly known as the Egyptian Paschal Hallel. A Hallel comes from the word Hillel which means Psalm or song of praise. It begins with Psalm 113 and concludes with Psalm 118.

When you look at these Hallel Psalms you will see that they begin with who ought to be in praise and concludes with Who it is that ought to be praised and why it is we ought to praise. This Paschal or Egyptian Hallel is called the pronoun Psalm. This is an intimately personal thank you Psalm. It is the most personal because it is called the “I” Psalm for it has an abundance of personal pronouns. In its 19 verses, I occurs 19 times, MY occurs 11 times and ME occurs 4 times.

This Hallel is shrouded in mystery. Paul Tillich defines mystery as stating that a mystery in its truest sense is that to which remains a mystery even after revelation. There is mystery about this text.

First of all it is a mystery about who the author is: David, Hezekiah, presume it might be Jonah, refers to the children of Israel and their thanks to God for their deliverance out of captivity.

There is even mystery about what it was that God had delivered the Psalmist from. You don’t know whether it was a serious illness/some grave danger. It seems as though the Psalmist was purposefully vague or nebulous about the problem that affected him and brought him nigh unto death.

But even though there is mystery and hiddeness and ungraspability about the nature of this Psalm—there is also some clear cut and known revelation.

I. The first thing we see here is his dilemma.

The Psalmist was in a grave situation.

Vs. 3: the sorrows and the cords of death were all around and entangling me/I was in hell (hell is not just a place that you go to when you die—it is not just geographical it can be experiential)/I was in sorrow and I found myself in trouble (life, circumstances, people, situations)
Vs 6: I was low
Vs 8: I was dead, my soul was dead & decaying; my eyes were filled with tears that couldn’t dry up; my feet were falling (I had a case of the humpty dumpty syndrome—I had fallen and couldn’t get up—all the king’s horses, etc. my connections, acquaintances…)
Vs 16: I was in bondage…


To let you know that the Psalmist is in a grave situation, notice how he personifies death and the grave.

What he does is he takes death and the grave and depicts them as hunters; and like hunters they have tracked him down. Not only have they tracked him down but they have surrounded him to the point where he couldn’t escape. This was such a crisis situation until death and the grave, like hunters, were lying in wait with cords to entangle him. That is what he means when he says in verse 3 ‘the sorrows have compassed me and the pains of hell gat hold upon me.’

Now the words ‘the pains of hell’ in verse 3 literally mean the distress of the grave. And the term distress have reference to narrow walls closing in on a man. What this says is that there was something in this man’s life that was encircling him and enclosing him like hunters closing in on a prey and like narrow walls closing in on a man.

I’m convinced that there is somebody here who can honestly relate to the anguishing experience of the Psalmist; and the reason you can relate is because his lot is your lot. Somebody here is in a predicament and a circumstance where it looks as though something is closing in on you from every point and on every side; somebody here is dealing with an avalanche of agony, a conglomeration of calamity, a litany of losses, a maze of misery, a plethora of problems, a series of suffering—somebody here has been enclosed in a ring of deadly grip; somebody has been seized and taken into custody by trouble; somebody here today is in the vicious grip of devastating distress/has a heart that is perpetually perplexed/in the throes of catastrophic cataclycism. Somebody here, like the song, has been stomped and dogged by something that now resembles death and the grave.

Now as bad as that is—it is an aweful feeling when you’ve beco5me the hunted and the prey; and what is even more awesome is when the death and the grave look alike—because death says that you are finished and the grave says that your doom is sealed. Which says that the sole motive of the hunter is to finish you and seal your faith. And what is even worse is when the icons of death and the grave are not only dogging your tracks—but they are closing in and encircling you. To say that they are encircling you says that they are getting dangerously close. But there is something worse than being encircled and enveloped—and that is when these death and grave look alikes get close enough to put you in bonds. Verse 16 says, ‘thou hast loosed me from bonds’ and you know bonds are chains. Which means that death and grave look alikes have gotten so close until they start restricting your movements. (Because when you are in bonds you are not free to move…..)

But now it gets worse—its bad when you’re running trying to escape the icons of death and the grave—they have circled you and enclosed you—and in an effort to get away—you run right into trouble.

• What that means is that you are in a Culdesac

It is a trip when your back is up against the wall—then trying to escape despair only to find yourself in a culdesac or despair. (Ex. Children of Israel, Three Hebrew Boys)

To be in a culdasac—that’s an aweful feeling. To be in a culdesac means that you are trapped. Is there anybody here who’s ever been trapped? (Marriage, child, job) Let me ask you another way: Have you ever been hemmed in from all around?

Trapped—no way out/no place to turn/no means of escape/no where to run/no ray of hope/no sign of help or a silver lining/no sign of deliverance/all doors lock/everything spells doom/everybody is against you—in in a culdesac of despair. Is there anybody here that’s ever been trapped?

Whenever you are in a culdesac, death and the grave; hemmed in by trouble and despair—you don’t have to go to piece/come unglued/end it all—IF and ONLY IF you are truly a child of God. That’s what the Psalmist means in verse 16.

VERSE 16

He was saying that he was born in the household of faith but even though he was born in the household of faith—he knew God for himself.

And do you not know that the issue is still the some—it does not matter whether you are born to godly parents/you were reared in a sanctified home/the sacred pedigree from whence you have come. Why? You can not receive a meaningful and vital relationship with God by proxy. In fact if you look at the unbelieving brothers and then attach Judas—you will discover that you don’t gain a meaningful and authentic relationship with Christ because you are around Jesus or in close proximity to Him—it is something that takes place on the inside.

In theology it is what we call mystical, cyprical indwelling. That is the hypostatic union. Which simply means this: I’m in Him and He’s in Me!

That’s what the Bible meant when Jesus said: “If you abide in me and My words abide in you”.
That’s what Paul meant when he said: “If any man be in Christ—he is a new creature”

And brothers and sisters, when you know that you are in Him and He is in you—then you start walking like him and talking like him. But more than that—you start talking about Him in personally and experientially.

• You can’t give a tribute to somebody that you do not know
• So that if you are saved, redeemed, washed in the blood of the crucified lamb—you don’t have to go to pieces—praise!

II. His Dialogue

Worship is dialogue with God—because there is a relationship

Look in verse 1 and he uses the word ‘supplication’ In the Hebrew the word supplication means grace or favor. And so the Psalmist is asking for a grace favor. And based upon verse 4 was for deliverance. Now you already know that grace is something that you don’t deserve. Therefore the Psalmist here is asking for what he did not deserve—for a grace favor from God. Now through the devastating events in the Psalmists life—he didn’t have time to engage in pointless and useless rhetoric/in what my professor used to call a bundle of verbose samanticizing/he had to get straight to the point.

I have discovered something and that is that too many of us are praying 10 prayers covering everything and covering nothing. We have too many believes that spend so much of their prayer time in salutations; telling Him who He is—and I am convinced that while we are telling God who He is….God is saying I know better than you Who I am—now what is it that you want.

That is why the old people didn’t have much education—but they had enough sense to declare: Jesus is on the main line…call him up and tell him what you want!

This situation had become so critical that trouble had caused him to cut down his prayers. (Trouble will cut/truncate/abridge your prayers)

The Psalmists prayer here is only 8 words: Oh Lord, I beseech you, deliver my soul…

I’ve discovered in the word that some of the most effective prayers in the Bible weren’t that long:

• David’s prayer in Psalm 30 was only 13; prayer of the thief on the cross was 9 words; the prayer of the disciples at sea was 7 words; the prayer of the 10 lepers was 6 words; the prayer of Peter when he was sinking in the sea was 3 words.

a. Notice to Whom he addresses his prayer TO:
He addresses his prayer to the Lord who is gracious, righteous and merciful. Now he prayer to what is called the paradoxical God.

Righteousness is straight; and if righteousness is not straight—it’s not righteousness.
Mercy Bends; and if it doesn’t bent—it isn’t mercy
Grace Bends…..

He says that we serve a God who can mysteriously be Sovereignly straight—but yet at the same time BEND without compromising His holiness. In other words, God can cancel my sin without condoning my sin.

Now tragically and regrettably, I must inform you that you can be poignant and get the point and yet travel to the wrong source.

In the Old Testament, there was a little slave girl who told Namaan to go to the prophet but he went to the king. Wrong Source!

In the New Testament, there was a man who Jesus healed who He then instructed to go straight to the priest—but she went to the streets. Wrong Source!

Now I have discovered, church, that when God delivers us and blesses us—we are majoring in going to the wrong source!
- Psychiatrists
- Pseudo Faith Healers
- Palm readers
- Soothsayers
- Hypnotists
- Fortune tellers, horoscopes, sianc tools, weeji boards, tea leaves, rabbits foot, horse shoes, dust, 900 Psychic lines—wrong source

Not only are we calling upon the wrong source—we even have the audacity to call on the wrong name:
- Mohamed-wrong name
- Allah
- Buddah
- Confucious
- Zorra Aster
- Secular Humanism
- The Chronic
- Vannessa Del Rio
- Chip and Dells—wrong name

When you are in trouble and distress, back is up against the wall—when you need a grace favor there is only one name to call!


There are certain shouting words in the Word of God: Inclined (verse 2) Let me tell you what this word incline means: Means to lean forward and bow and catch a sound that’s too faint to otherwise be heard.

Maybe you haven’t been there—but I’ve been there.
And old deacon used to say at my daddy’s church—he would stand up and say: what prayer can’t do can’t be did!

III. His Deliverance

The latter part of verse 6 says: I was brought low and He helped me
The latter part of verse 8 says: He delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears and my feet from falling

How do you know he received bountiful help: if you juxtapose his situation with God answer—not only did God deliver his soul (that’s what he asked for); but he delivered his eyes and his hands.
• God will always give you more than what you are asking Him for

It kind of reminds me of a story who was in Sunday School on Sunday morning and said ‘how many of you know the difference between kindness and lovingkindness.’

A little girl said, ‘I know the difference’. She said kindness is when you ask your mother for some toast and she gives you some toast. But lovingkindness is when you ask your mother for some toast; but she gives you some toast with some jelly on it.

And that’s how God operates—God always gives you more than what you ask for. That’s why Paul said, ‘unto him who is able……’ David said, ‘though anointest my head with oil…my cup runneth over’ I heard Malichi write that when we bring the tithe and the offering that the Lord will open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you won’t even have room to receive. I head the Psalmist says, ‘blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits’.


Can I go and get verse 12: What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

I heard him say I cannot repay God for bowing down, delivering my soul/eyes/feet. But I can obey God and thank the Lord for what he’s done for me.

I can obey God—I can love my enemies, walk in the path of righteousness for his name’s sake

I can praise God—I heard him say that the Lord blessed me in private; but whenever I get in the public—I will serve the Lord with gladness, enter into his courts with praise. I will come into his house that I will bless the Lord at all times; my soul shall make her boast in the Lord; magnify the Lord with me….LET us exalt his name together!!! Magnify! Testify! Glorify!

He said that everything I get a chance—I will praise Him—because He’s worthy to be praised. Because He’s been good to me/he fulfilled his vow/he’s been faithful to me—shoes on my feet/clothes on my back…You don’t know like I know what the Lord….