Introduction: Certainty of Death
You are going to die. So am I. That is reality.
Everything I say in this sermon can be qualified by “Unless Jesus comes back first”. So I’ll say it now, that “unless Jesus comes back first”, someone will have to do something with your dead and decomposing body. I’m not trying to be crude. This is the reality of our situation.
To live wisely in this world, we must understand life the way it is. We don’t like it. We try not to think about it. As a society, we make sure death is whisked away from our eyes and hidden from view. It is bad form to talk about death, for it seems so morbid. But this is what happens to our lives. They stop.
Some of us will be burying our husbands or wives. Others of us will be buried by them. Maybe someone will have to identify your body as it lies in a morgue. Maybe someone will wash your body after you’ve died, someone will have to do something with your clothes after they’ve buried or cremated your body. Someone will need to go into your house and clean out your things. Maybe they will be sold, given to Vinnies, or treasured for a few more years.
Your children are going to die. Your grandchildren will have funerals. You will say, “see you later” to friends, but will not see them again.
That is the reality we face. You can say everything you like about this sermon. It’s not uplifting, it’s depressing, it is shocking and morbid. They shouldn’t do sermons like this. But one thing you have to say. It’s true. It’s undeniable, and scientifically verifiable in 99.99 repeater percent of cases. You are I are dying.
So you need to make a will. That’s your job for next week, if you haven’t got a will. Too often people die intestate. They die without a will, and cause all manner of problems for those left behind. Go to a solicitor and make a will. If you don’t have a solicitor, find one. Make your will. That is what the 1662 prayer book, in the service for ‘The Visitation of the Sick’, tells us to do.
Another thing you should do is you should think about what you want to happen to your body after you die. Think about whether you want to be an organ donor. I ticked that box. And think about what you want to happen to the rest of your body. I want it to be buried, because that points to the victory Jesus won. I know it’s more expensive, but that’s what I want.
Burying a Christian is really doing gardening. Our current bodies are the seeds. Our burial is planting the ‘human’ seed into the ground. It’s the caterpillar going into the cocoon before it is transformed into a butterfly. And the general resurrection at the second coming is when the seed grows into a new tree. And at the resurrection of the dead, when Jesus returns, he will call to the graves and all people will be raised from the dead, some for the resurrection of life and others for the resurrection of judgement. So the burial of the body in the ground will testify to faith in the resurrection.
This psalm, Psalm 39, is a realistic psalm. King David is facing the reality of his death.
Context
Again, we don’t know the occasion of this psalm. It seems that David had sinned in some way, and God had visited that sin with suffering. In David’s life, we have instances where David sinned and as a result suffered. For example, there was the time when David counted the men of Israel in the census. Or when there was the time when David committed adultery and murder. Both of these sins had specific temporal consequences for the nation of Israel. God did specific things in David’s life to punish and chastise David for what he did.
But we know that God doesn’t always work in this way. Sometimes there is no link between our sin and our suffering. We suffer not because of our sin, but because we live in a fallen world. At other times, we know that suffering has come to the very best people because they are the very best. And the two examples of this are Job and Jesus. They suffered not because they were evil, but because they were good, the best, in fact, in the entire world.
Bottled up (vv. 1-3)
In verses 1-3, David responds to his suffering by deciding not to speak. And sometimes that is a good thing—to be silent. The Proverbs say that even a fool is thought to be wise if he keeps his mouth shut (Prov 17:28). Perhaps your mother used to say “If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all”. And that’s what David decided to do. Verse 1:
I said I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin, I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence. (NIV)
And so far so good for so long. David quietly and meekly receives his punishment. When fools are in his presence, he doesn’t speak. He bites his tongue and says nothing.
Have you ever tried not to say something that you really want to say? It is very difficult. It’s like trying to keep the water in the hose by sitting on it. It has a way of coming out. David is like a Coke bottle, all shook up and ready to spurt out. And his attempt to hold it all in only makes what he wants to say come out more forcefully.
Teach Us To Number Our Days (vv. 4-6)
What bursts out everywhere when David opens his mouth under pressure? Death, the brevity of life, “I’m going to die!” That’s what David says in verses 4 to 6:
Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; And let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth. The span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; He heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. (NIV)
Here is the reality of our life: it’s nasty, brutish, and short. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). And as we get older, the years rush past us even faster. And if we make it to 80 or 90, we wonder, where did that go?
Friends, God has put eternity into our hearts (Eccles 3:11). But our bodies are biodegradable. They return to the dust from which they are taken.
Death cuts short all our lives and renders almost all our pursuits vanity, stupidity, and a waste of time.
Holidays by the beach meant for many years sandcastles and sandmodelling. So we would build a pool for Rory. Rory doesn’t like the waves, because they are a bit big, so just back from the water’s edge we build a pool. Sometimes we dig just a little pool that he can sit in. At other times we dig a moat with an island in the middle. Sometimes other kids on the beach want to help. But no matter how extensive our building works and civil engineering feats, the next morning, they are all washed away by the sea. None last beyond the day and the next high tide, no matter how impressive.
Death is the great leveler. Rich or poor, intelligent or stupid, we all succumb to it. For it is the wages of our sin. Anyone who is a sinner dies.
The rich man spends his life accumulating wealth. Yet, while he lives, his hangers on multiply. And when he dies, his son squanders it, or loses it, or it goes to someone else. And the question is, “Was that worth it?” And so we ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this to myself?” In the same vein, Jesus says, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36 NIV). It is stupidity, and folly.
They say that a deadline focuses the mind. We are going to be dead soon. What will you do to make count the little bit that is left of your one and only short and fleeting life on this earth?
Save Me From My Sins (vv. 7-11)
What does David do in the face of the reality of his imminent death? Verses 7 and 8:
But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. Save me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of fools.
The shortness of life highlights the problem of our sins. We have sinned. That is why we are dying. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).
And our death highlights our impotence. We cannot save ourselves. We are our problem. And God is our problem because of our sins. Look at verses 9 to 11:
God is our problem because of our sin. We have made God our enemy by sinning against him. And the question isn’t, “Whatcha gonna do about it?” The question is, “Has God done anything about this?” Is there forgiveness for David? Will God save David from all his transgressions?
In the face of his oncoming and sure death, David has put his hope in the one and only God, Yahweh, the God of Israel, the very same God who has rebuked, punished, and afflicted David for his sins. God has caused David to suffer because of his sins. Now David has put his hope in that same God. So verse 8, “My hope is in you. Save me from all my transgressions.”
Is that hope well placed? Yes! We know more than David does in this psalm. For we stand on this side of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know that God has stepped into world history and done something about our sins and our death. We have the Lord Jesus Christ. He was delivered over to death for our sins, and was raised to life again for our justification, for our forgiveness, so that we can be righteous with God.
Jesus by his death took the punishment for our sins. So God by the death of Jesus saves us from our own transgressions. He looks at his Son’s death as a sacrifice for our sins. And so he doesn’t see our sins anymore. He decides not to remember our sins, because Jesus paid the costly price for them.
And Jesus rose again. And so doing, he defeated death. That enemy death, that takes our wives and children away from us, that maker of orphans and widows, has been defeated. We rejoice in the death of death in the death of Christ. So we celebrate Christ’s mighty resurrection from the dead. Jesus is alive. And because he is alive, we have him as our intercessor, and mediator, and friend in heaven. Jesus the righteous one speaks to the Father in our defence. David pleads to God, “Save me from all my transgressions”, and God sends Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life, die the death we deserve, and rise again to live the life we so desperately need. And now this same Jesus continues to live and intercede for us in heaven as our friend and mediator and defence counsel.
David put his hope in the Lord. Was it in vain? No. Listen carefully to what the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 10 verses 9 and 13:
9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
David will not be embarrassed in heaven, for God will forgive David’s many transgressions because of Jesus. And he will forgive yours too, if you put your hope in him. Can I urge you, my friend and fellow traveller on the way to death, to put your hope in the Lord, and his unfailing love. He who gave his Son Jesus Christ for us, will he not also give us heaven as well, and forgive us all our sins, and comfort us for as many days as he has afflicted us.
And so the question is, “How do we live now? What difference does Jesus make to life in the shadow of death?”
An Alien and Stranger in the World (vv. 12-13)
It means that we do not belong to this world. We live as aliens and strangers in this world. You do not fit in here. Verse 12:
Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help, be not deaf to my weeping. For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my Fathers were. (NIV)
My friend, if you are a Christian, someone who trusts Jesus for their salvation and forgiveness, and has Jesus as boss, this world is not your home. You are an alien and a stranger. You don’t call Australia home. Sydney is not your city. You are a foreigner and refugee here, for heaven is your home. The new creation is your country. The Jerusalem that is above is your city, and she is your mother.
You will never fit in here. You will always be a stranger and a temporary alien, an illegal immigrant in a foreign country, in a spiritual sense. And your death now is transformed into your ticket home. And your passport is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you need no luggage, for Jesus has been preparing a place for us these 2000 years. Everything you need will be provided when you get there.
So let go of the things you think are important now. Family, friends, relationships, wealth, prestige, power—all of them are good, but they can be distractions from Jesus Christ. We must cling to Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. You will not be embarrassed, and you will receive a rich welcome into Jesus’ kingdom.
And then we will live this life more realistically. Life in the valley of the shadow of death becomes livable. And we will not say, with the rest of our culture, “Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die”, but we will say with the Apostle Paul, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58 NIV).
Let’s pray.