JW subtitle extractor

If you exercise faith in the ransom,
you can have everlasting life.
We teach that.
We love that teaching.
But is it only in the future
that we benefit
from God’s gift of the ransom?
No.
The fact is
that because of our faith in the ransom,
we have entered
into a personal, dedicated friendship
with Jehovah.
And in turn,
Jehovah showers us with his goodness,
with his loyal love.
We benefit from that every single day.
Now, how important is that to us?
Let’s get David’s thinking
at Psalm 27:13
on the importance
of having Jehovah’s goodness,
or his loyal love.
At Psalm 27:13,
having discussed various ways
in which Jehovah showed him
goodness every day,
he says:
“Where would I be if I did not have faith
that I would see Jehovah’s goodness
in the land of the living?”
Applying that to ourselves,
just imagine for a moment:
‘No ransom sacrifice,
‘no daily goodness from Jehovah
—where would we be?’
We don’t even want to think about that.
Sometimes, though,
it’s good to peer
into the chasm just briefly.
And we realize:
‘We don’t want to go back there.
‘We need to feel that Jehovah’s goodness
is with us every single day.’
So let’s switch our focus, then,
and look for specific ways
in which we experience Jehovah’s goodness
because of our faith in him
and in the ransom.
Let’s make a list together.
David’s words in this psalm will help us.
So turn to the beginning of the psalm.
This is the first item for our list.
David says:
“Jehovah is my light and my salvation.
“Whom should I fear?
“Jehovah is the stronghold of my life.
“Whom should I dread?
“When evil men attacked me
to devour my flesh,
my adversaries and my enemies
were the ones who stumbled and fell.”
Why did David prevail?
Because he was such a mighty warrior?
No, he says it was
because “Jehovah [was]
the stronghold of [his] life.”
Jehovah showed David loyal love,
supported him all the way through.
And that’s why he succeeded.
So when David meditated
on how Jehovah had shown him
loyal love and support,
he reached an important conclusion.
Verse 3 says: “Though an army
should set up camp against me,
“my heart will not fear.
“Though war should break out against me,
even then I will remain confident.”
Now, how strong was David’s confidence
in Jehovah’s loyal love?
Go down to verse 10:
“Even if my own father and mother
abandoned me
“[it’s unthinkable, but even then],
Jehovah himself will take me in.”
Isn’t it true that because we experience
Jehovah’s loyal love and support
—we count on it—
we can confidently go ahead
even if we face severe trials?
So that’s the first item for our list.
Here’s the second one.
Go down to verse 14.
David says:
“Hope in Jehovah;
be courageous and strong of heart.”
Because of our faith in the ransom,
we have a strong basis to hope in Jehovah.
We hope in him
to get us through each and every day,
and we hope in him
to fulfill his grand promises for the future.
And what effect does that have on us?
It makes us
“courageous,” “strong of heart.”
Does that really work?
Yes, it does.
And that was brought home to me recently
when I heard a very endearing experience.
A young sister, Eliza, is seven years old.
Now, her mom has a Bible student
who has a little girl just about Eliza’s age.
The Bible student was battling an illness
and had to spend some time in the hospital.
So Eliza’s mom arranged
to bring the little girl over to their home
so that she could spend some time
playing with Eliza.
Afterward, as they’re taking
the little girl home,
she turns and says,
“Eliza, thank you
for helping me feel better.”
Mom is curious.
So she asks, “What happened?”
Eliza explains:
“Well, she was very sad
“because her mom was still in the hospital
and she misses her,
“and I wanted to help her feel better.
“So I said a prayer with her.
“And then I thought,
‘She needs to know about that scripture.’
“You know the one
where ‘God will wipe out every tear
“and take away our pain’?
“So I showed that to her.
And then I gave her a hug.”
Very simple, but it had the right effect.
Her little friend felt stronger.
She was able to face the painful situation.
Why?
Because Eliza had taught her
that she could hope in Jehovah.
In a similar way,
because we hope in Jehovah
every single day,
he gives us the courage
to face the challenges of that day.
That’s our second point.
Let’s look at a third one.
Go back to verse 4
(something David found very important):
“One thing I have asked from Jehovah
—it is what I will look for—
“that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah
all the days of my life,
“to gaze upon the pleasantness of Jehovah
and to look with appreciation
upon his temple.”
David appreciated
the privilege of pure worship.
Now, what we have
is even better than what David had.
We have the privilege
of serving in the courtyards
of Jehovah’s great spiritual temple,
his arrangement for pure worship
based on the ransom sacrifice
of Jesus Christ.
And as we worship there,
what do we experience?
David’s words are helpful.
He says that he wanted
“to gaze upon the pleasantness of Jehovah.”
We learn about “the pleasantness
[the beauty] of Jehovah.”
We learn about his beautiful qualities
expressed to us.
And within his arrangement for worship,
we see Jehovah’s beautiful qualities
in action
and how they affect
and benefit us personally.
And what is our response?
We “look with appreciation upon his temple.”
Our hearts well up with appreciation.
And it’s true that we live in a world
that’s full of all sorts of ugliness.
But isn’t it also true
that when we have an appreciative heart,
that helps us to keep on serving with joy?
That was the third item.
So how are you doing with your list?
Remember, the list shows
that because of our faith in the ransom,
Jehovah draws close to us
and shows us his loyal love and his goodness.
And so
(1) because we have faith in the ransom,
we experience
Jehovah’s loyal love and support.
And so we can confidently face
trials and even opposition.
(2) Because of our faith in the ransom,
we experience the power of hope.
We hope in Jehovah,
and he gives us the courage each day
to face the challenges of that day.
(3) Because of our faith in the ransom,
we enjoy the privilege of pure worship,
where we see Jehovah’s beautiful qualities
in action
and our hearts well up with appreciation,
which also adds to our joy.
Now, are these
the only benefits every day of the ransom?
Not at all.
But they are the only benefits
we’ll talk about this morning.
Why not think about this
as a personal study project
or a Family Worship project?
Use this as a starting point
and add your own points.
As you meditate on these points
—how we benefit
from Jehovah’s loyal love every single day,
a product of the ransom sacrifice—
it will help in two ways.
First of all, we are going to want
to thank Jehovah from our heart
for this beautiful gift.
And then we’re going to want
to tell other people about it
because we want
as many people as possible
to get the full benefit
of this superlative gift
—God’s gift of the ransom.

Clive Martin: We Benefit From God’s Gift of the Ransom (Ps. 27:13)