Cup of Salvation

 Psalms 116; 1-14, Romans 5:1-8

We learned last week how salvation depends on our faith in God and Jesus Christ. But what about times of suffering? How do we keep the faith then? Our Psalm’s passage tells how during times of affliction he kept his faith. He speaks later of lifting up the cup of salvation. Charles Wesley interpreted this as the sacred cup of grace.

Romans 5 tells how we have peace with God since we’ve been justified by faith. We have received this cup of grace through Jesus Christ. We can stand since we have access to this grace. Due to this grace, we have hope in what good our suffering will accomplish – Paul even goes as far as saying we can even rejoice in it. Paul goes through then what gifts suffering produces. He says it produces endurance which in turn produces character and this character produces hope. This hope does not disappoint since God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

The Psalmist has great hope in God’s bounty to him since the Lord has delivered him in the past. Thus, he has the endurance to keep the faith and then has the character to praise the Lord and have hope in the continual care of the Lord. He lifts up the cup of salvation – the sacred cup of grace – remembering God’s grace in lifting him up from the distress and anguish he has suffered.

This cup of salvation came to us from the death of Christ on the cross. He died not for the righteous but for sinners, while we were still weak and laid down in suffering with no hope of recovery. This is great proof of God’s love that Jesus died for the ungodly – those who didn’t deserve it. This cup of salvation, we like the Psalmist can lift up high, giving us proof of God’s love for us, giving us justification and peace with God.

May we keep the faith during times of suffering drinking from this cup of salvation – recognizing the gift of grace God has given to sinful us. The grace which will pull us through any suffering we may endure. Amen

 

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