Thank you, Joy. Good morning,
all. Let's open this morning's service
with hymn number 22 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book,
number 22. We were ruined by the fall, Adam's
sin defiles us all. By our deed as by our birth,
we deserve the law's great curse. Helpless, hopeless sinners we,
never can our souls retreat. But the blessed Son of God Came
as man in flesh and blood He fulfilled the law's demands And
in death stretched out His hands On the cross of Calvary Christ
redeemed and set us free In the time which God had set, the Spirit
came for His elect to regenerate and pull from the ruin of the
fall. By His power and by His grace,
we were born for God's own praise. Please be seated. Good morning. Let's open our
Bibles together to Psalm. 116 Psalm 116. If you haven't seen the inside
of the new building yet, I hope you'll take a look before you
get away this morning. They started putting the drive
all up and we'll have that finished this week. So it looks really
Exciting. Alright, let's ask the Lord's blessings.
On our time together, our merciful Heavenly Father. We come into
thy holy presence thanking you that. We have a throne of grace. Through which we are able to
approach you with confidence. Knowing that thy dear son. Our
Savior, our sin bearer. Our substitute. Has satisfied
all the demands of thy holy law. Lord, that you are looking. Contently
at his shed blood. For the forgiveness of our sin.
We pray that you would send your spirit in power and enable us
to look to the same place you look. or that we would find our
rest, all our hope and all our salvation in the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you'd be pleased
to reveal his glorious person through the eyes of faith to
our hearts, enable us to set our affections on things above
where Christ is seated at the right hand. Lord, for all the
provisions of life that we enjoy from your hand, we thank you
for them. We thank you for this opportunity of worship. We asked Lord that you'd be pleased
to. To bring this. Virus that. Has afflicted this
world. We pray Lord that you would Bring
it to an end and that you would enable us to return to our. Regular
fellowship. We ask it in Christ name. Amen. Alright, you have your Bibles
open to Psalm. 116 I've titled this message
taking. Is giving. Taking is giving. Seems like a contradiction, doesn't
it? But it's exactly what the Lord
expresses here in Psalm 116. When the psalmist asked, what
shall I look at? Look with me at. At verse verse
12, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? All the benefits of God. from
the very next breath that you and I draw into our lungs to
the breath of life that is given to us by his spirit, enabling
us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and everything in between. all the benefits that we receive
from our God, all the mercies and all the grace, and every
believer says, what shall I render to the Lord for his benefits? How can I repay God for all that
he's done for me? And notice the answer to this
question in the next verse. I will take of the cup of salvation
And I will call upon the name of the Lord. Now that's why I've
titled this message, Taking is Giving. Because the psalmist
is asking, what can I give to God for what he's done for me?
And then under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he answers
that question by saying, I know what I'll give to him. I'll take
from him. And I'll call upon him. You see,
nothing honors God more than for his people to take of the
cup of salvation. And nothing honors him more and
nothing gives to him more glory than for us to call upon the
name of the Lord. What shall I give? What shall
I render to the Lord for all his benefits? Now we've seen
that these Psalms are to be understood first and foremost in relationship
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so before we even consider
how this might apply to us, let us let us consider what the Lord
Jesus Christ is saying to the father when he says, what shall
I render? What shall I render unto my father
for all the benefits that he has given unto me. And then he
responds to the very question by saying, I will take of the
cup of salvation. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did on Calvary's cross. When he prayed in the
Garden of Gethsemane and said, Father, if there be any way this
cup can pass from me, let it be. Nevertheless, not my will,
but thy will be done. It wasn't that the Lord was considering
some other option or that he was reluctant or that he was
having second thoughts. Oftentimes, the Lord prayed,
you remember when he prayed at Lazarus' tomb in John chapter
11, and he said, Father, I know that thou always hear me, but
I pray this for their benefit. And that prayer that our Lord
expressed to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane is for our
benefit. There is no other way. If there
was some other way, if there was some other way for our sin
to be put away other than the Lord Jesus Christ drinking the
bitter dregs of our sin and of the curse of those sins and of
the judgment and wrath of God, God would have had another way.
But there was no other way. He drank damnation dry. He drank to the very bottom of
the bitter dregs of God's holy justice and wrath. Why? so that
you and I would never have to drink of that cup. All we have
now is the sweetness of the wine of his spirit to gladden our
hearts. We don't... So the Lord is asking
the father, father, what shall I render unto you? All the benefits
that you've given me, I know what I'll do. I'll fulfill the
promise that I made to you in the covenant of grace. I'll suffer
the wrath of God in order to put away the sins of my people. I'll satisfy God's holy justice. Nothing honored the Father more.
than for the Lord Jesus Christ to fulfill those covenant promises. I know what I'll do to render
unto God, to repay unto God, to show my love and my appreciation
and my gratitude to my God for all that he's done for me. I
will take of the cup. of salvation. And that's exactly
what the Lord Jesus did. Listen to what he said in John
chapter 17, when he's praying to the father, he says, I have
glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work, which
thou gave us me to do. You remember what the Lord Jesus
said when he bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross, he cried,
it is finished. It is finished. The cup of salvation
has been drunk. God is satisfied. Sin's been
put away. Everything that God requires
for the salvation of God's people has been accomplished, has been
finished. And so he says, Father, I've
glorified thee. I glorified thee on the earth.
And the way I glorified thee was I drank of the cup of salvation. He goes on to say, and now, Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I
had with thee before the world was. Father, I'm glorifying you. I'm rendering unto the Lord,
unto my Father, for all his benefits by taking of the cup of salvation. And Father, now that I've glorified
thee in doing what I promised to do, Lord, I'm praying that
you glorify me. And that's exactly what he does.
Nothing glorifies the father more than for Christ to be lifted
up. Nothing glorifies God more. Nothing,
nothing expresses our our praise and worship and gratitude to
God more than for us to take of the cup of salvation to the
praise of the glory of his grace. And then you remember when James
and John sent their mother to the Lord to request that they
would be given a place on his right hand and on his left hand
when he entered into his glory, thinking that the Lord Jesus
Christ was going to set up an earthly kingdom and an earthly
throne. And James and John's mother went
to the Lord privately and said, You know, my boys would really
love to be right there with you on your right and left hand.
And the Lord looked at James and John and he said, you don't
know what you're asking. You don't know what you're asking.
He said to them, are you able to be baptized with the baptism
that I'm baptized with? And he wasn't talking about water
baptism. He was talking about the baptism of fire. He was talking
about the fiery wrath of God's justice that was gonna fall on
him on Calvary's cross. And he asked them, are you able
to be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? And then
he went on to say, are you able to drink of the cup that I'm
going to drink of? And they said, oh yes, Lord,
we are. Not having any idea what they were saying. Yes, Lord,
we're able to drink of that cup. And the Lord gloriously said
in response to them, and you indeed shall be baptized with
the baptism that I'm baptized with, and you shall drink of
the cup from which I'm going to drink. When did we do that? When he did it. When he did it. You see, God's people have always
been in Christ. They've always been in Christ. They were in Christ in the covenant
of grace before the foundation of the world. God's elect have
always been viewed in Christ. And so everything that the Lord
Jesus Christ did, we did. That's why Paul said, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. That's, there's our hope. You
see what the Lord said to James and John, he says to me and you,
you indeed shall be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized
with. You indeed shall drink from the cup that I'm going to
drink from. When I do it, you're going to do it. When the Lord
Jesus Christ lived his life of perfect obedience to the Father,
God saw his life as our life. And everyone that was in Christ
was credited with righteousness by the perfect obedience of the
Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ died on Calvary's
cross, everyone of God's elect were with him. When he ascended
back into glory, the scripture says that all of our blessings
are in the heavenlies now in Christ Jesus. So God's people
are viewed by God in Christ. The only hope that you and I
have To be able to enter into the presence of God is to be
found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, brethren, when he drank that
cup, we drank that cup. What will I render unto the Lord
for all his benefits? I know what I'll do. I know what
I'll do. I'll take. of the cup of salvation. Now you remember when Joseph's
brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt and God elevated him to the prime
minister of Egypt and Joseph's brothers came down not looking
for food, not knowing who he was. And Joseph is in the process
of revealing himself to his brothers. He knows he's going to make himself
known to them, but they've got some things to learn first. And
so he gives them food and sends them home. They never paid for
any of the food. You remember they took the money
back with them and they found the money in their bags when
they got home? Isn't that the way? Joseph in this story is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and we, the church, are his brothers. But most particularly, Benjamin
is a picture of the church. Remember, Benjamin stayed home
with Jacob. And the last time they went home, they said to
Jacob, he told us not to come back until we brought Benjamin
with us. And so they brought Benjamin
and Joseph had one of his servants take his silver cup and put it
in Benjamin's bag. And Benjamin, not knowing the
cup was in there, they left Egypt, going back to Palestine, and
Joseph sent his servants after them. Somebody stole my cup.
And the man that stole it will be my servant. And it was found
in Benjamin's bag. What is that story about? That's
when Judah had to stand in Benjamin's stead and be the surety for Benjamin. You remember Judah took Joseph
aside and said, he said, oh, don't do this to Benjamin. His
father will die. For his father is, his father's
life is in part with the lad's life. If something happens to
the lad, our father's going to die. Jacob will die. Judah stood
in his stead, and that's when Joseph made himself known to
his brothers. What a picture of salvation.
You know, we've been given that cup, and we've been found guilty. And yet we have our Judah who
stood in our stead as our surety and secured our deliverance and
provided for us everything. That's, that's what happened
at the cross. That's what the Lord saying here.
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? I
know what I'll do. I'll take of the cup of salvation. Now we took of that cup. We took
of that cup by virtue of our union with Christ. Mystically,
we took of it. Spiritually, we took of it 2,000
years ago. But does that mean that we don't
take of it now? No, we do take of it. What did
the Lord say? In John chapter 7, he said, if
any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And the Lord said,
lest you drink of my blood and eat of my flesh, you have no
life in you, for my blood is drink indeed. So what are we
doing? We're looking in faith to the
sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ made on Calvary's cross
for all the hope of our justification before God. That's what it is
to take of the cup. There's a river that flows clear
as crystal from the throne of God. And God says, come drink,
drink, come just like you are right now. Now what the Lord said to the
woman at the well in John chapter 4, when he said to her, if you
knew, if you knew who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink,
you would ask of him and he would give to you living water. If we knew What the Lord Jesus
Christ did. If we knew that he satisfied
everything that God required, we would ask of him, Lord, give
me to drink. Give me to drink. And we take
the cup of salvation and by taking the cup of salvation, by looking
to Christ's death on Calvary's cross for all the hope of our
justification before God. Not of will. It's not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth
mercy. It's not by works, it's by grace. It's by the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That renders to God all the glory
for the benefits that he has given unto us. What shall I render
unto the Lord for all his benefits? I know what I'll do. I'll take. Taking is giving. Taking is giving. Isn't that glorious? Nothing glorifies Him more than
for us to take the cup of salvation. You say, what can I do for all
the blessings and benefits that I've enjoyed from the Lord? Take! Take of the cup of His salvation.
Drink! Notice. What else the psalmist
responds to this question, what shall I render unto the Lord?
How can I possibly repay God for all his benefits? He saved
me. He's put away my sin. He's given
me everlasting life. What can I do to repay him? How
can I render unto him? The glory that he deserves and
the gratitude that he deserves for all the benefits that he's
given unto me. I'll take of the cup of salvation,
that's all I know to do. And I will call upon the name
of the Lord. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now how shall they call upon
him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe on
him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they be reached unless they be sent?
Lord, you're gonna have to reveal yourself to me for me to call
upon you. Turn me, Lord, and I'll be turned.
Reveal yourself to me and I'll call upon you. This is exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's cross. What shall
I render unto the Lord? This is the words of Christ from
Calvary's cross. What shall I render unto him
for all of his benefits? I know what I'll do. I'll call
upon my father. Turn to me to Psalm 22. Psalm
22. Christ Jesus, the Lord gave to
his father all the glory that's That's what he's rendering unto
the Lord. He's rendering unto the Lord, his thanksgiving and
his glory. Look at Psalm 22 verse one, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Again, the Lord knew why he was
being forsaken. He knew that he would have to
drink of this cup. This was the cup that he, that
he dreaded. what it meant. We, you know,
you and I are able to live our lives without fellowship with
God for periods of time and doesn't seem to bother us much, does
it? We get so tied up in the things of this world. The Lord
Jesus Christ had perfect union with the father for all eternity
and what it meant for him to be made sin and for the father
to forsake him We can't even enter into that. We can believe
it. And we know that that he suffered
this that this forsaking. For the glory of his father and
for the sake of his bride. And so Psalm 22 is the. is David's words of prophecy
speaking to the very thing that the Lord said on Calvary's cross,
my God, my God, blest thou forsaken me from noon to three o'clock
in the afternoon, the sky was so black it could be felt. It
was darkened, separation between God the Father and God the Son.
God, the son doing business with the father, bearing the guilt
of his people, bearing the shame of their sin and suffering the
wrath of God's justice, drinking of that cup and being baptized
with that fiery baptism of God's holy wrath. And he cries out,
my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Why art thou so
far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my
God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the
night season, and I'm not silent." Notice the next phrase, but. You see, there was a real separation
between the father and the son. The son's crying out to the father.
He's not hearing anything from the father. Lord, I'm crying. You're not
answering. But in spite of the fact that I'm not hearing you,
you're holy. You're holy. What's he doing? He's calling upon the name of
the Lord in spite of the fact that he's not hearing anything
back from God. He just keeps calling. You know what we're
to do? You remember the story the Lord
told about the impertinent woman who went before the judge and
ask him for some relief, and he didn't even listen to her,
but because of her impertinence, because she continued to beg
him, guess what? Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. Most times somebody knocks on
the door one time, and you open it, right? Not so with God. That
word knock, it means to keep knocking. Ask,
and it shall be given unto you. That word ask means to keep asking. Search, seek, and you shall find. That word seek means to keep
seeking. It doesn't mean, well, you know, I knocked, I asked
God, I sought him, he didn't answer. He wasn't answering the Lord, but he kept calling upon his
name. You remember the bride in the
Song of Solomon? She was looking for her beloved,
and she asked where he was, and nobody knew where he was. But
she kept looking. And they asked her, what is your
beloved more than our beloved? And she began to describe him
to them. Where's he gone? I've got to find him. And she
kept pursuing him until she found him. Where did she find him?
In the garden. Down in the garden. That's a
picture of the church. That's where we find him. Or
just, just what shall I render unto the Lord for all of his
benefits? I know what I'll do. I'll do what Christ did. I'll
take the cup of salvation. I'll do what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. Even when I'm not hearing back from God, I will call upon
the name of the Lord and I'll keep calling. Now keep coming. That's what I'm going. I'm going
to render unto the Lord my dependence upon him. That's what's gonna
glorify him the most. Look at verse three of Psalm
22, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of
Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee,
they trusted and thou did deliver them. They cried unto thee and
were delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded. But I am a worm and no man a
reproach of men, a despise of the people, all that see me,
lap me, the scorn, they shoot out their lips, they shake their
head. He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let
him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. God's silent. Christ is suffering. All the indignities of man, all
the sufferings of these shameful accusations that sinners are
making against him. And all he had to do was call
the angels of heaven. Neither would a legion of angels
would have come. And they would have delivered
him. But he didn't. He didn't. He remained there
on Calvary's cross until he finished the work that he came to do.
Until salvation was complete, until God the Father was satisfied,
what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? What
can I give to God? I know what I'll do. I'll take
from God. And I'll call upon him. Verse nine, but thou art he that
took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God from my mother's
belly. Be not far from me, for trouble
is near and there is none to help. Many bulls have come past
me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gape upon
me with their mouths as ravening and roaring lions. I'm poured
out like water. and my bones are out of joint,
my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels, my
strength is dried up like the pot shirt of my tongue, cleave
it to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death,
for dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed
me, they pierce my hands and my feet, I may tell all my bones,
they look and stare upon me, they part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vestures, Now these words were penned by
David as a prophet 1,000 years before they were fulfilled on
Calvary's cross. 1,000 years, exactly as it was
prophesied. Be not far from me, O Lord. Oh,
my strength haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the
sword, my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the
lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the congregation while I praise thee. The Lord Jesus not hearing from
God. Yet he says, what shall I render unto my father for all
his benefits? I know what I'll do. Nothing
will glorify my father more than for me to take the cup of salvation.
Nothing will glorify him more and show him more of my gratitude
than for me to call upon him. Even when I'm not hearing anything,
even when nothing's happening, I'm just gonna keep calling.
I'll keep calling. There's our old brethren. Taking
is giving. And we render to the Lord the
calves of our lips when we offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving
calling upon the name of the Lord, don't we? Nothing honors
his name more than for us to call upon him, for us to express
our complete dependence upon him for everything. Look at, back to our text in
Psalm 116. I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
the Lord. Those of us that are married
took marital vows. And if paying those vows is something
we have to do because it's legally right, then something's wrong
with that marriage, isn't it? Somebody has to insist that if
your spouse has to remind you of your vows in order to get
you to love them properly, something's wrong with that marriage, isn't
it? No, when the Lord says, I'm gonna pay my vows, He's the loving
husband of his bride. He's doing it willingly, lovingly. He made a vow to his father before
the stars were made, before the angels were made, before the
world was created, before Adam and Eve, where Adam was formed
from the dust of the earth or Eve from the rib of Adam, before
any of that happened, the Lord Jesus Christ made a covenant promise with
his father, just like the covenant promise of a marriage. And he
said, father, I will satisfy your holy justice by my shed
blood. And I will fulfill as the God
man, everything required for perfect obedience in order for
them to be acceptable. in thy sight." And that's exactly
what the Lord Jesus did. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs chapter 6. Now surety is one who satisfies
the debt of another. Okay? we might have something similar
to a surety in a cosigner. And the wisdom of God here is
that when you agree to be the surety of another person, you
make sure that you maintain your integrity by paying their debt
when they're not able. Now we owe a debt to God, what
should I render unto the Lord for all of his benefits? We have
a debt to God, a sin debt that we can't pay. And the Lord Jesus
Christ struck hands with the Father as our surety, knowing
that we would never, you wouldn't co-sign for somebody if you knew
ahead of time that they weren't gonna pay it and you were gonna
be stuck with everything, would you? Would you do that? You knew for
sure that you were gonna be stuck with the whole thing, would you
do it? We co-sign for our children or for friends if we wanna help
them out, but we're figuring they're gonna take care of this.
The Lord Jesus Christ, when he became our surety, he knew that
we would never be able to pay that debt. Now listen, my son,
if thou be surety for thy friend, and brethren, we have a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. And greater love hath no man
than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. No longer do I call you my servant,
for a servant knoweth not what his master doeth, but I call
you my friends." Yeah, there's some wisdom in this about cosigning
with somebody and maintaining the integrity of your name. And
if you do that, you better be prepared to pay that debt off
if they don't. My son, if thou be surety by thy friend, if thou
hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words
of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself when thou art come into
the hand of thy friend. Go, humble thyself and make sure
thy friend. That's exactly what the Lord
Jesus did. He humbled himself and he made
sure his friend. Why? To maintain the integrity
of his name. Give not sleep to thine eyes
nor slumber to thy eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from
the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? I
know what I'll do. I'll take of the cup of salvation. I'll call upon the name of the
Lord and I'll fulfill my vows. My covenant promises. We render to our God glory. When we fulfill our vows. And
we don't do it. because it's required by the
law. We do it because he works in us, causing us to will and
to do after his good pleasure. You remember when the Lord Jesus
Christ arrested Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus and that
bright light came and blinded him and the voice of God spoke
and Saul asked, who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecuteth. And what did Saul say? What Saul
say? Lord, What would you have me
to do? What would you have me to do?
You remember in Isaiah chapter 6 when the Lord is speaking in
the triune Godhead and Isaiah is listening in? And the Lord
says, whom shall we send and whom will go for us? And what
did Isaiah say? What'd Isaiah say? Out of gratitude
for what the Lord had done for him. What'd he do for him? He
took the hot coal from off the altar and he touched his lips
and he took away his sin. That's a picture of what Christ
did when he was baptized with the baptism of fire. And what'd
Isaiah say? Lord, here am I. Is there anything I can do? Send
me Lord, send me. You see, that's every believer's
heart desire, isn't it? I will render unto the Lord the
fulfillment of my vows. You see, every child of God,
when they meet Christ, Lord, what would you have me to do?
My life is your life. You saved me. Lord, everything
I have belongs to you. What would you have me to do?
And what did the Lord say to Isaiah? Isaiah, I'm going to
give you a message. And they're going to have ears,
but they won't hear. And they're going to have eyes, but they
won't see. But you're going to keep preaching. You're going
to keep preaching to them. And that's what we keep doing,
don't we? And preaching isn't just a one-man, a minute. It's the church. We're given
the responsibility to preach the gospel. This is our vows.
This is what we're doing. We're rendering unto the Lord
the fulfillment of our vows. Every time we gather together
for worship, every time we contribute to the preaching of the gospel,
that's what we're doing. And Isaiah said, Lord, how long,
how long do I have to do this? Until the cities be wasted without
inhabitants and the land be utterly desolate. Isaiah, if there's
one person left on the earth, you preach the gospel to them.
You tell them about Christ. That's the only hope they have.
And every child of God says with the, with the, with the, with
the Psalmist, what should I render unto the Lord for all his benefits?
How can I repay God for what he's done for me? I'll take a cup of salvation.
I'll call upon the name of the Lord. And I'll spend the rest
of my life fulfilling my vows out of gratitude for what he's
done for me. Taking is giving. Amen. All right, let's take a
break.