Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn with me to the book of Psalms, chapter 116. I'd like to look at verse 12,
but throughout the psalm, I'm going to be referring to different
passages in that 116th psalm. Verse 12. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? What shall I give in return? What shall I render for all of the bounty for all
of the rewards, for all of the benefits that the Lord has done for me. You know, that's a real arresting
question. It's very proper because David,
under the inspiration of God's Spirit, asked it. Every blood-bought, spirit-regenerated
object of God's mercy is going to say this. What can I do? What can I render
unto the Lord? But David asked, what shall I
render? Every believer admits, Lord,
without You, I can't do anything. What am I going to present to
You, Lord? What am I going to return unto the Lord for what
He's done for me? Well, I know this, whatever it
is, it's going to have to be found in God's Word And it's
going to have to be revealed by God's Spirit because that
question right there, the answer to that question is just too
high for me. I don't want to be foolish. I don't want to be
presumptuous. I don't want to give silly answers.
I want to know what does God say that His people render unto
Him. for all of the benefits that
He's done for them. Well, before we look at that,
let's just look in this passage, in this 116th Psalm, and let's
just look what the Lord says that He's done for His people. What are the benefits? Let's
rehearse those things. Let's say back to the Lord what
God has said to His people. Here's the first thing. Look
at verse 8. For thou hast delivered my soul
from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." In electing grace, indescribable
mercy. This is what the Lord has done
for His people. He has delivered my soul. from death. He eternally found, saw, has
had a ransom. Deliver them from going down
to the pit. How long? They've always been
delivered from going down to the pit. He who saw the blood
slain from before the foundation of the world, He who saw the crucifixion in
eternity and trusted His Son that He was going to come in
time and actually fulfill, did the Lord Jesus Christ have to
die on the cross for God's people to be redeemed? Absolutely yes. He had to. Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. But God saw it eternally. What
has the Lord done for me? He delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears. For God's people, there will
be no weeping and wailing, gnashing of teeth in judgment. They are going to forever be
with Him. There will be no more tears. I'm going to wipe away
all their tears, use it, grieve, wrestle. He's not going to let
my feet fall. Why? He said, because I'm going
to keep you. We're kept by the power of God
through faith. Who are these? Well, according
to Romans 9.23, those who afore were prepared unto glory. I know you. I made you. I created you. I formed you. That's what we looked at Wednesday.
You're mine. Don't be afraid. Fear not. Don't be afraid. You're mine. What has the Lord done for His
people? Thou hast delivered my soul from death. Delivered my eyes from tears.
My feet from falling. Here's the second thing He's
done for me. I know. Look at verse 2. He's not turned His
ear away. because he hath inclined his
ear unto me." Whenever my petition is so frail
and weak that I scarcely hear it, and I ask myself, am I really
praying at all? Am I? Am I actually beseeching
the Lord truly? Am I just going through the motions?
When I find myself, now I can't even keep my mind on the subject
that I'm truly wanting to talk about. As I try to approach the Lord
for this assembly, and in my mind, I'll start, I'll
just start trying to go down the pews, and call every one
of your names before the Father's throne and ask His blessing. and try to pray. And the next
thing I'm knowing, here I am trying to, and I find myself
wandering. And I think, Lord, where am I
going to hide in shame from You? You know. But what has He done for me?
He's not turned His ear away from me when I can't even keep
my mind. He hears. What has the Lord done for me?
Look at verse 7. Returning to thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. The Lord has dealt
bountifully. What has He done? I mentioned
just a few minutes ago in the other service, He has made with me, quoting
the words of David, He made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, based upon His Word, based upon His
power, His will, His purpose. What has the Lord done for me?
What are the benefits that He has done for me? He made with
me a promise in Christ, I'm going to save you. I'm going
to save you. I'm going to keep you. And sent
His only begotten Son to redeem me. And called His Son, the Son of
Man, His servant. Behold my servant, the one I
uphold, not as deity though he is, but as his servant made flesh."
The Father says, I uphold him. I keep him. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, who made himself of no reputation, and approaches God
on the behalf of His people as their great high priest and intercessor,
What has the Lord done for me? How has He dealt bountifully
with me? He made me His bride. Made me
to be one of His own. And called me so. Declared me
to be so. Named me as so. Rode me in His righteousness. Made me an heir of God. A joint
heir with Christ. And what did I ever do for that?
Nothing. Nothing. Just one made out of the same
pent as anybody else. And looked upon me in mercy.
And said, I've chosen to show mercy to you. I made you mine. Now let me ask you this. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all of His benefits toward
me? But there's one other benefit
that I want to mention before I look at the answer for a few
minutes. I want you to look at verse 15.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Do you talk about a benefit?
Do you talk about a benefit? Look at the words in verse 15.
Precious in the sight of the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. It's precious. Precious in the sight of the
triune God. Precious in the sight of Jehovah.
And in the moment of a believer's departure, in the moment of a
believer's graduation, in the moment of a believer's
being brought out of this world, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit Looks upon that as precious. I've always loved you. I've always purposed that you'd
be with me. I've always purposed that you
would eternally behold the Son in all of His glory, given Him
by the Father from before the foundation of the world as the
substitute, the Redeemer. We're always going to look upon
Him. As Job said, I'm going to see in my flesh, and as I said
a week or so ago, did that mean in Job's new and changed and
now perfect flesh? Or was he talking about, I'm
going to look upon Him who now is in my flesh? He was made flesh. He who right now, the One who
ascended from that mount, Made flesh. And that angel that says, you
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus, as you see in Him ascend, He's coming back just like that.
He's coming back. I've said before, there's a man
in glory that sits on God's throne. The God-man. There's a man, our
Redeemer, God Almighty, in our nature, and He's going to make
us just like Himself. We're going to see Him as He
is, and we're going to be like Him. Just like Him. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all of His benefits toward me? Well, here's the answer. Look at verse 13. I will take
the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will take, in that word cup
right there, the word cup there means the lot. This is the lot
that He's given me. He made me what I am by the grace
of God. I didn't earn it. I didn't deserve
it in myself. He chose to grant unto me. When the Lord says, if this cup
could pass from me, this was His lot, Mitch. This was His
lot. He asked that question in absolute, perfect obedience. That's the question we would
have asked. But He did it. No sin. Nevertheless, not my
will, but Thine, be done. I will take the cup of salvation. Lord, I will consider, take that which You have chosen to
do. Show mercy to me. And I'm going
to call on the Lord. I'm going to call upon Him for
mercy because He's already given me mercy. I will take is not
a confession of my ability. It's the wisest reply that I
could possibly give. Because He's given me a heart
to, by faith, truly take what He has freely given And all the
while knowing, Lord, there was no ability in me to do that.
You gave me a heart to do this. But Lord, You gave me a heart
to do it. Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power.
What am I going to do? I'm going to take what He's given
me. And He says it's mine. By grace. And I'm going to worship
Him. I'm going to bow in my heart
before God. I'm going to call on the name
of the Lord. I'm going to take of that cup
that the Lord has filled, saving grace. The unbeliever hears this
truth, and the unbeliever says, no thank you, I've got my own
ability. But a believer says, Lord, You've
made me so. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all of His benefits? By faith, I'm going to take what
He's given me. And thankfully so, call on His
name. Psalm 50, verse 15 says, I'll
call upon Me in the day of trouble. That's every day. And I will
deliver thee. and thou shalt glorify me." How's
that? You're going to call on me? You're
going to trust me? Call upon Him. Thanksgiving and praise
and blessing for all of the mercy that He's shown me. What shall I render unto the
Lord? Look at verse 1 and 2. I love the Lord. because he's
heard my voice, my supplication, because he's inclined his ear
unto me. Therefore, will I call upon him
as long as I live." And how long is a believer going to live? He said, he that believeth on
me is never going to die. He said, you're not going to
die. You're not going to die. You'll graduate, but you'll never
die. What am I going to render unto
the Lord? I'm going to render love unto Him. I'm going to love
Him. He heard my voice. Because He
first loved me and gave me a heart to love Him, this is what I'm
going to give Him. I'm going to give Him what He's
given me. This is all I've got to give Him. He has bestowed
love toward me and given me a heart for Him. And this new heart reacts. A believer loves Him. And again,
a believer didn't drum that up. God put it there. He loves Him. The law could never produce that. The law demanded it. Thy shall
love the Lord with all thine heart, with all thine mind, all
thy soul. That's good and that's right.
But the problem is I can't do it. I just can't do it. It's not
there. I say that the comforter that
the Father is going to send that the world cannot receive, By
the law. There's no salvation. The law
reveals sin. That's what the law does. The
law cannot, does not give life. God Almighty must give life.
But I'm telling you, when Almighty God gives a man a new heart,
a woman a new heart, they're going to love Him. What am I
going to render unto the Lord? Here's the third thing they're
going to do. Scripture says, verse 7, "...return
unto thy rest, O my soul. For the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with you." What am I going to do? What am I going to render
unto the Lord? I'm going to rest in Him. He's
my Sabbath. The Lord is my Sabbath. He is
my eternal day of rest from trying to produce a righteousness that
I cannot produce. He is my day of eternal resting
before God. Verse 3, 4, 5, 6. The sorrows of death encompassed
me. And the pains of hell gathered
upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then
called I upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech Thee,
deliver my soul. What am I going to render unto
the Lord? I am going to call out, Lord, save me. He that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast him out. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord, O Lord, I beseech Thee, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul.
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The
Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low, and He helped
me." What am I going to render unto
the Lord for all of His benefits? I'm going to call on Him. I'm
going to love Him. Look at verse 9. I will walk
before the Lord in the land of the living by the grace of God, God Almighty,
who keeps me by power, keeps me faithful. I desire to walk before Him and
to have my manner of life before God Almighty and men And to do
so in His sight, I will walk before the Lord in the land of
the living." 2 Peter 3.11 says this, seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved. All of this, everything you're
looking at, everything that we foolishly set our sights and
emotions on and desires on, and put ahead of God in His worship. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness? This is not a command to a dead
heart attempting to earn a righteousness before God, but it is the heartfelt
desire of life found within a regenerated object of God's mercy. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all of His benefits before me? Lord, that I might
be faithful. Faithful to believe You and love
Your people. Keeping the commandments of God. Not having any confidence in
myself. And again, not using that as
an excuse Verse 17-18, I will offer to
thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. And will call upon the name of
the Lord. And pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence
of all His people. What am I going to render unto
the Lord? Lord, that I might be able to thank You. Just say,
thank You. And again, not as I wish I could.
Not as I ought to. But Lord, that I may thank You. You know thanks, just saying
thank you. That may not seem to be a real
costly gift. Turn to Hebrews 13. Verse 15-16. To the world, that rendering unto the Lord
is nothing. But look at Hebrews 13, verse
15-16. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continued. That is, the fruit
of our lips giving thanks, confessing to His name. But to do good and
to communicate. Forget not. That word there,
communicate, do you know what that means? It means to fellowship
with one another. Participate with one another.
To partnership with one another. This is good that we're here
this morning. Being taught by God. Taught by
God's Spirit. Offering the sacrifice of praise
unto the Lord. Crying unto Him. And again, somebody
would say, well, did you thank Him as you should have? No, I
didn't. But I thank Him. I do thank Him. Psalm 107.22, And let them sacrifice
the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing. But you know, in closing, I told
you a little while ago, I was going to touch on where is the
merit? Where is the merit of our calling
upon the Lord and thanking the Lord and beseeching the Lord
and crying out from where? is the merit of that. God's people
do it. They do it. God's people are
praying people. And when you pray, where is the merit? I can admit
that I don't thank Him as I ought. I know that. But I do know this,
God hears me. God hears His people. Where is
the merit of it? Turn with me in closing, Revelation
chapter 8. I'm going to show you something
that we've read before, but it needs to be read again, considered
again, because it is a precious, precious passage. You know, a
few weeks ago, we looked at the altar of incense in the Old Testament
in the wilderness. There was a golden altar and
it had coals. The coals in that were gotten
from the brazen. I don't know what kind of that
was laid out. If I'm at the altar of incense,
the brazen altar is back here at the door. They would sacrifice
that burnt offering. coals from that burnt offering,
that sweet savor offering that was offered unto the Lord, picturing
the absolute, willing obedience of Christ as our substitute. They'd take coals from that altar,
and they'd come and they'd lay those coals on the golden altar
of incense. And here was the veil, and just
right behind the veil was the mercy seat and the Ark of the
Covenant inside the Holy of Holies. But here was the altar of incense,
and they would take incense that was ground up according to God's
specifications, and the priests would sprinkle that incense on
those coals in the smoke, the savor of that incense, which
pictured the prayer, the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. as
our priest, him praying, him seeking God, him seeking the
Lord. That's what that altar of incense pictured. Him. His prayers. His intercession.
On our behalf. Okay, knowing that. Revelation
8 verse 1, And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence
in heaven but the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven
angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven
trumpets, and another angel, here is our Lord, another angel
came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there
was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with
the prayers of the saints. upon the golden altar which was
before the throne, and the smoke of the incense which came with
the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angels'
hands." Now, believer, what are we going
to render unto the Lord? We are going to render the voice
of thanksgiving, the heart of thanksgiving unto the Lord. Where
is the merit of that? Whenever our Lord takes the prayers
of His people, those prayers that we don't even know what
to pray for, I don't even know what to say. What am I going
to say? How can I say it? And the Scripture
says that He mingles it with His merit. And it ascends up
before the throne. In our little attempt of giving
God thanks, is mingled with His merit. And Almighty God accepts
it on His behalf. On His merit. Accepted in the Beloved. Accepted in Christ alone. Accepted totally because of His
obedience I call upon the Lord in thanksgiving
and praise. What shall I render? I love Him.
But oh, when my love is mingled with His love! When my thanks
is mingled with His thanks! When my calling is mingled with
His calling! And for His sake! That's why
we pray and we say, We approach you for Christ's sake. We approach
you in His name. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all of His benefits toward me? In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I'm going to call on the Lord. And God Almighty, according
to His Word, accepts the prayers of His people. the callings of
His people, the cries of His people, the thanksgiving of His
people totally for His Son's sake. This is my beloved Son
whom I am well pleased. You hear Him. Lord, teach me
this again. Lord, give me a heart to believe
this. Lord, don't let me be deceived. God help me to call upon You
in truth, in Christ, for His sake.