You can go with me back to 1st
Chronicles chapter 16. I can't think of a better way
to end a year after everything that our Lord
has done for us in putting us in this new building, adding to our assembly, raising us up from sicknesses
and infirmities, Keeping His gospel with us? Every time I say that, I enter
into the fact that there are so many places where it is said
the gospel used to be there. Keeping His gospel with us? What
mercy and grace! Not letting us stray? You know
how prone to wander we are? After He has not let us stray,
we're just trying and trying and trying, and He just hedges
us about and He won't let us go. After all that, I can't think
of a better way to end this year than being here, worshiping Him
together. And I can't think of a better
scripture to worship Him with than 1 Chronicles 16, verse 34. It says, O give thanks unto the
Lord, for He is good, for His mercy
endureth forever. You ever get tired of hearing
that? You ever get tired of thinking
about that? We give thanks to our Lord for
His goodness and His mercy to us. His goodness and His mercy. If the Lord is willing, that's
what we're going to do tonight. We're going to observe the Lord's
table. And in observing this table,
we're giving thanks to Him One of the things that we're doing
in observing the table is we're giving thanks to him for his
goodness and his mercy to us. Goodness and mercy that cannot
be described. We, we try, we stand up here
and we try, but it can't be described. Goodness and mercy that can't
be fathomed. We try to get our mind around
what it is that Christ did for us. And it can't be fathomed. But we say, O give thanks unto
the Lord, for He is good. For His mercy endureth forever. Why do we need mercy? Why do
we need mercy? It's because we're sinners. That's
the reason why we have sinned. We are sinners who have sinned,
sinned against him. David said against thee and thee
only have I sinned. That's why we need mercy. Why
does he show mercy? It's because he's good. That's
the reason why it's because he is good. He is good that. That blesses my heart that gives
me peace, comfort, hope, rest. He's good. He's just he's holy. He's good, he's gracious. We're going to get to know our
Lord. We're going to get to know our
God. Pretty soon, we'll be on Canaan's happy shore, as we say
it, and we're going to get to know Him. We're going to begin
knowing as we have been known. And this is the thing we're going
to learn about this God who is our God. He is good. He is gracious. He is so gracious. He is so merciful. He's full of mercy. Plenteous
in mercy. That's who He is. How He is. He delights to show mercy. Wonderful
news. Verse 7 in this chapter tells
us that David is the one who wrote this psalm. These verses
that I just read are, it is a psalm and it is re-recorded in the
psalms. Re-written in the psalms. And I can't help but think about
David and everything he went through, all the trials and the
afflictions and the sufferings, the things that he brought on
himself, and the providence that the Lord had for him that put
him in a place where he was constantly crying out for the Lord's goodness
and the Lord's mercy and the Lord's help. He was a man who
constantly needed the Lord's help. And we know something of
that experience. Just like David, we go through
great trials and sufferings that cause us to deeply, desperately
need the help of our Lord. I love, I believe it's Psalm
12, where the first two words of that Psalm are help, Lord. Can't we enter into that? I need
help. Over in Psalm 27, David said,
I would have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living. Can't we say that with
David? Sometimes the weight of this life becomes so heavy. If it weren't for the hope that
we have. Of the Lord's goodness and his
mercy to us, I don't know if I'd be able to. Make it. Well, David wrote this psalm
out of overwhelming thanksgiving to the Lord, because in His goodness
and His mercy, He did help David. He did help Israel. And David
was so happy and he was so thankful, he wrote this psalm to declare
to all who need it, every soul who needs it, if you cry out
to the Lord, He will hear you. That's what David is declaring
to everybody who needs it. If you call on Him while He is
near, He'll answer you. He'll help you. So prove His goodness. Prove
His mercy. David said, beg Him for these
three things He's going to tell us right here. Three specific
Great needs that every single one of us have. And I want us
to do that tonight. I want us to do that with David.
I pray that we will. On this last night of the year,
as though this is the last opportunity we have. Think about that, if
you had one more opportunity, if you knew you had one more
opportunity to cry out to the Lord. Call on the Lord. What would we cry? David gave
us three things right here. Let's cry these things with David.
Let's beg with our brother David here. Verse 34 says, O give thanks
unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Verse 35, he said, and say ye. Say ye, for the goodness and
mercy of God to us, through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ's
sake. Say these three things. Now this
is the point in the message where I want to connect with everybody
here. Okay? Say ye. Say ye. Every soul here requests these
three things. I don't care how old, how young.
I don't care if this is the first
time we've heard this or the millionth time we've heard this.
Say ye. Cry out for these three things. That's what I want us to do individually.
That's what I want us to do collectively as a congregation tonight. in thankfulness because we can,
because we are allowed to, because we've been made able
to, because it has been revealed to us how desperately we need
to. Verse 34 says, O give thanks
unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever,
and say ye these three things. Number one, save us, oh God,
of our salvation. Number two, and gather us together. Number three, and deliver us
from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name
and glory in thy praise. I love how verse 35 begins by
saying, say ye, say ye, you say, you say, you personally say in
your heart, every man, woman, boy, girl. Every one of us needs
to personally from the depths of our own souls, Cry out to
the Lord Jesus Christ, our God and our Savior. Save me. I'm telling you. I just candidly say this. Say this. Not lip service. The Lord doesn't answer lip service.
But if He does something for us, He will put a burden in our
souls to cry, save me. Probably the greatest prayer
I've ever heard was the Apostle Peter. Lord, save me. That's who it's directed to,
who has the ability, the authority. Lord, this is what I need you
to do. Save me. Lord, save me. You're the only
one who can. I want every man, woman, boy
and girl to say that in their heart. I'm hoping in you. I'm just hoping in you that you
will do what you have promised you would do for sinners like
me. Abraham believed God that he
was able to do what he said he would do. It's called faith. It's a gift of God. Lord, give
me that faith, faith in Christ alone and cause me to cry out,
Lord, save me. Save me. If we walk out of here,
just remember in two words, remember these two words, save me. Save us. As a congregation of
believers, Lord, we're looking to you, we're hoping in you save
us, Lord. And don't forget about me. Oh,
I can see why he would save you. Lord, don't forget about me. Pass me not, O mighty Savior. Hear my humble cry while on others
thou art calling. Please don't forget about me.
Don't pass me by. David said, You say that. I'm
just repeating. I'm passing along. I'm agreeing
with David. Say it in your heart. Say it. Mean it. Remember me. That's what the thief on the
cross said. Two words. Remember me. Well, now, if he came and died
for his people, he has already died, right? We're remembering
his death. If He came already and saved
His people, why would we spend the last breaths of our year
crying, save me? He came, right? Yes. He saved,
right? Yes. Then why would we be sitting
here spending our time crying, save me? Here's the reason why. It's because I'm a wicked sinner.
I'm a heathen. I know I am. I'm an outcast. Has He saved Israel? You better
believe He saved Israel. He saved His people. But right
here, when I look at this right here, I don't see one of them. I don't see one of them. I don't
have confidence in this flesh. So what I have to do is beg for
mercy. I have to cry for mercy. I can't
assume on what I see right here. I know what I am, I feel what
I am. Prone to wander, prone to rebel. I need a special work of mercy
and grace. I can't help but cry, be merciful
to me. Be merciful to me. I need to
know that in his goodness and his mercy, he has included this
wretched sinner In those that he chose to save, Lord, please
save me. Save me. Include me. Draw me to yourself. Put a desire
in me for you. Say that. Lord, put a desire
in me for you. Put a desire in me for the gospel. Put a desire in me for these
things. Put a desire in me for the salvation
that God has provided for sinners in Christ. Don't let me fall away. Say that. Don't let me fall away
in your heart. Please don't let me fall away. "'Tis a point I long to know.
Oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? If I love, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? I'm going to read this whole
thing to you. Stanza number two is the one that gets me every
time. Let me start over. If I love, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who have never heard His name. Could my heart so hard remain? Prayer a task and burden prove. Just trying to get through a
prayer. Every trifle, every little thing
that comes up gives me pain if I knew a Savior's love. When
I turn my eyes within, all is dark and vain and wild, filled
with unbelief and sin. Can I deem myself a child? I
don't look like a child of God. If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. confess that so. If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You who love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
find my sin a grief and thrall. Should I grieve at what I feel
if I did not love at all? Could I joy his saints to me? Would I be here right now? Choose the ways I once abhorred. Find at times, at times, the
promise. Sweet. If I did not love the
Lord. Lord, you decide this doubtful
case. Thou who art the people's son.
Sense upon Thy work of grace, if indeed it be begun. Let me
love Thee more and more. If I love at all, I pray. If
I have not loved before, help me to begin today. Say that. Say that. What Brother Newton
was saying right there was, save me. Save me. Save us. Lord, for Your goodness
sake, Forgiving Christ as a sacrifice for sin, for Christ's sake, for
your mercy's sake in the blood of His sacrifice, save us. Lord, save us. David said that's
the first thing to cry out. Here's the second thing. These
will go faster. Verse 35 says, and gather us together This is
our prayer tonight. Lord, gather us together. Gather us together in your arms
as a shepherd gathers his lambs. Don't you love those scriptures,
Isaiah 40 and different scriptures that talks about our Lord, the
shepherd, just he'll gather his sheep like a shepherd gathers
his flock. Gather us in your arms. Draw
us near to you. Draw us near to You. Do we want
to not be dull and lifeless and dark and cold and vain and wild? Lord, draw us to You. Draw us to You. This is our prayer. Lord, comfort us. Console us. Let us feel Your strength. Let
us feel Your support. Gather us. Gather us up. And gather us together, it says. This is our prayer as we end
this year and head into a new one. Lord, gather us together. This is my prayer for this congregation. Lord, join us. Unite us. Unite our hearts together. Wouldn't it be great goodness
and great mercy to us if He would do that for us? Rather than allowing
our sinfulness to drive us, your people, the Lord's people,
the ones He chose, the ones He redeemed, the ones He eternally
blessed in Christ. Rather than allowing our sinfulness
to drive us apart, Wouldn't it be great goodness and great mercy
if our Lord would lovingly gather us together? I want to be gathered
together with you. David said, pray for that, pray
for that. And I repeat it, say ye, let's
all pray for that, ask for that. Say to this good and merciful
God, Lord, gather us in your arms. Gather us together in your
love, in the bond, in the unity of the love of God that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord. And Lord, gather us together
to yourself. Come quickly, Lord. Gather us
who are still here on this earth together with the saints who
are already in glory with you. Gather us together. Just gather
us together. David said, say these things,
pray these things because you can. We've been allowed to. Allowed to. We're allowed to
walk up to the throne of God Almighty. God is so good, so merciful to
hear and to answer. He said, pray these things. Verse
35. He said, say ye save us, O God
of our salvation. and gather us together and deliver
us from the heathen. Lord, deliver us from the heathen. Wait a minute, who's the heathen?
I've already said it. I'm the heathen. I am the heathen. Lord, deliver me from me. Deliver me from me. My greatest immediate deliverance
that I need right now, here on this earth, is I need deliverance
from myself. I'm not just saying that. I need
deliverance from myself. I'm the sinner. I'm what plagues
me. God, be merciful to me and deliver
me from myself. My own body of death, deliver
us. Deliver us. until the day that
you finally deliver us. David said, say these things,
pray these things. Why? Why, David? Why would we
deeply desire to ask for those things and to receive those things
from our God? David said, here's the reason
why. The middle of verse 35. He said that we may give thanks
to thy holy name and glory in thy praise." He said, Lord, if
you'll do that for us, not only will we have reason to give you
thanks, we will then truly be able to, from the depths of our souls,
give you the proper thanks and praise and glory and honor that
you deserve. You'll deliver us, we will thank
you, we will praise you with all that is within us. Now, we're
about to observe the Lord's table. And in doing this, we are number
one, remembering His death. Our Lord said, as often as you
do this, you do this remembering in remembrance of me. In this we are remembering what
it took for Him to save us and to gather us and to deliver us
from all of our sin. What utter blasphemy it is when
men stand up and talk about what they're going to do to save themselves.
When we're looking at what the Son of God did to put the period
in, it is finished. We are remembering that it is
finished. We are remembering His death.
We are remembering the fact that it took Him breaking His own
body, marred more than any man, and
pouring out His own blood, enduring the holy justice of God in order
to save us and to redeem us back to our first state with God.
So number one, in this ordinance, when we take this, we're remembering
his death. We're acknowledging his death. Number two, we are discerning
his body. That means we are acknowledging
the fact that his broken body and his shed blood did pay the
price in full. It satisfied God's wrath. God
was so angry. How angry was God at us? Look at the cross. God was so
angry. Outside of Christ, God is still
angry. He's still angry with people.
Nobody believes that, I know, but He said so in His Word. Outside
of Christ, He is angry with the wicked. Oh, thank God. Oh, give thanks to the Lord,
for He's good. Because of His mercy right here.
This satisfied all of God's wrath. This satisfied God's law. The
wages of sin is death. The law said satisfy. This satisfied everything that
needed to be satisfied concerning us. And our salvation is finished
by His own sacrifice. Through the full accomplishment
of His own death, it's finished. Our salvation is finished. That's
the second thing. And the third thing is this.
In observing this table, we are saying with the deepest sincerity
of our heart, who should take this table? It's any soul who
can say from the deep sincerity of his or her heart, verse 36, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. Bless God for what he has done. Give the glory to him. Give the
praise to him. Ascribe it all to him. Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel forever and ever. That's how we're going
to end this year by his grace. We're going to end it saying,
blessed be the Lord God of Israel forever and ever. And I love how this verse ends.
Those three words, ever and ever. That's how David ended his psalm. The psalm was over. Blessed be
the Lord God forever and ever. And after that psalm was read
to all of the people. All the people that heard it
read to them, they all agreed with gladness and with thankfulness
in their hearts. They all said, Amen. And they
praised the Lord. And all who gladly and thankfully
agree. We're going to say that together
through observing this table. That's what we're doing in observing
this table. We are saying, Amen. Praise the
Lord. All right, Brother William, you
come up and read for us.