Turn with me, if you would now,
to Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six. I'll go ahead and tell you that
our text tonight is going to be Psalm 117. We've pretty much
read everything but our text. I wanna say a couple of things
before we look at Psalm 117. There is something very special
about simplicity. I believe there is something
very, very special about simplicity. I believe it's easier to get
to the heart of the matter when you're dealing with something
in simplicity, just how simple can you make it? How basically
clear can you make it? When I read Psalm 117, I was
immediately struck by the heartfelt sincerity of its simplicity. I was just struck by it. I immediately
thought of Zechariah 4, verse 10, which says, who hath despised
the day of small things? Don't despise small things. There can be great glory in them,
great glory. Just because something is great
to us, that doesn't mean it's great to God. Just because something
is grand and great to us, that doesn't at all mean it's great
to God. That made me think of this verse right here in Matthew
6. If you look at verse 7, our Lord
Jesus Christ said, but when you pray, use not vain repetitions
as the heathen do, For they think that they shall be heard for
their much speaking. He said, they think that just
because their prayers are long, And I can enter into that. I
don't even accuse men of false religion by pridefully saying,
how long can I go with this thing? I can enter into that. If I really
want him to hear me, I can't stop sometimes. If I'm in desperate
need, I just keep asking and keep asking. And we're commanded
to do that. So I enter into this, but in
the context, what our Lord is saying here is they think that
just because their prayers are long, they think their prayers
are great and God will hear them because of that. But he said,
that's not so, that's not so. That made me think of this right
here. Turn over to Matthew 14. Matthew
14, verse 25, it says, And in the fourth watch of the
night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when
the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled,
saying, It is a spirit, and they cried out for fear. But straightway
Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be
not afraid. And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he
said, come. And when Peter was come down
out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But
when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning
to sink, he cried, saying, this was his prayer. All right, this
was his whole prayer. He cried, Lord, save me. Three words. Lord, it has to
be you. Let's get to the heart of the
matter. We don't have time to fluff it
up with anything. Let's get right to the heart of the matter. It
has to be you. It has to be you. I'm looking to you. I'm crying
out to you. If you don't do something for
me, I'm dead. It's all on you. Lord, save. I'm a sinner in need of a savior. I'm in a desperate condition.
I'm in a place where I need to be saved. Lord, save. Your name is savior. Call your name Jesus because
you will save your people. Lord, save me. Don't just save sinners. Save
me. Lord, include me, the chief of
sinners, me. There's heart in that prayer. There is heart in that simple
little prayer. Verse 31 says, and immediately
Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him. You know what
that means? That means that simple little
prayer was a fervent effectual prayer. Lord save me. He was saved. Now, I believe you will immediately
see why I was caused to dwell on the beauty and the glory of
simplicity, just simple, simple simplicity, the simple truth,
a simple gospel of good news, a simple communication to God,
just a very simple communication to God. I believe you will immediately
notice why all of that came to me as soon as you see Psalm 117. Turn with me over there. Psalm
117. We're going to begin reading
in verse 1, and we're going to read all the way down to the
end of this psalm. The end of this chapter. This is the shortest psalm in
the Bible, two verses. This is the shortest chapter
in the Bible. But oh, the glory that is in
this psalm. What is said in these two little
verses, just watch and see how glorious this is. Verse one says,
David said, oh, praise the Lord. all ye nations. Praise him, all ye people, for
his merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the
Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord. Enough said. Amen. Whatever we are called on to
do in the manner of praising and worshiping the Lord Jesus
Christ, whether it's preaching or praying or whatever it is,
let's remember that it's not the length of it. It's not the length of it. I struggle to pray publicly.
I feel like I have vain repetitions. I feel like I just say the same
thing over and over again. I know you men do also. I've
called on different men to pray and they say I'm not comfortable
praying. And I understand that. I'm not. But let's all remember that it's
not in the length of our prayer. It's not in what kind of job
we're doing. It's not in the length, it's
in the love. It's not in the eloquence. It's in the sincerity. If we could go into our closet,
whenever we pray publicly, if the Lord would build four walls
right here, when we pray publicly, we're praying on behalf of everybody
listening. We, our Lord said, our father. And whenever we stand up and
pray publicly, we're praying on behalf of everybody. But our
prayer is that the Lord would let us just go into this closet
and forget that anybody's listening and forget about what kind of
job I'm doing and forget about how long it lasts and forget
about all those things. And just realize that it's not
a head matter to people, it's a heart matter to God. And if
the Lord would let me just say one word in sincerity, He'll hear that. He will hear
that. David right here said in this
short little psalm, he said three things. This is what he said.
He said, praise him, praise him, praise him. Well, David, you're kind of a
one trick pony there, aren't you? Is that your whole message? That's
it? That's the whole message. Beginning,
middle, end. You're just going to harp on
the same note. I believe it was Brother Darwin
Pruitt who tells the story of an old man sitting there playing
the guitar. And he's playing one string. one fret with one finger over
and over again. And young man comes up to him
and he says, sir, is that the only note you're going to play?
And the old man says, yep. And the young man said, well,
wouldn't you like to learn some other notes and move around a
little bit? And the old man said, nope. And the young man said, why not?
The old man said, you fellas who move up and down the neck,
y'all are looking for the note. He said, I found it. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. David found it. Praise you, the
Lord. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
praise the Lord. Brother David Edmondson tells
the story of an auction that he went to a few years ago. And
they were auctioning off all kinds of different items, and
while one man was calling the auction, There was another man
next to him that was showing the item being auctioned. He
was displaying it and showing how it works and all that stuff.
And one of the items that came up was an old dinner bell that
came from an old farm, an old working farm. They had a dinner
bell that they would ring when it
was time for dinner. the guy that was displaying the
dinner bell, he started ringing it. And David said at first it
was intriguing. It was interesting to hear the
sound of it. But he said he didn't stop. And the whole time the
auctioneer was calling the auction, that guy was just ringing the
bell over and over again. And David said it started to
get on his nerves. And it started to hurt his ears.
And he was thinking, won't you please just stop? And he said he got to thinking
about it later. He thought, that bell was annoying to me. And
I bet it was annoying to everybody else who was standing there with
me. But he thought, I know who it wouldn't have been annoying
to. That farmhand out there in the field, been working all day
long. He's tired. He's hot. He's sweating. He's hungry. He's longing for
that bell. He's waiting to hear that bell.
He's needing to hear that bell. The sound of that bell to that
soul would say, come and dine. It's time for rest. That bell
says, it's time for rest. All things are made ready. That
soul cries, ring it o'er and o'er again. You want me to ring
the bell again? Yes, sir, ring it again. Ring it again. The weary soul who is longing
for Christ and wanting Christ and needing Christ cries, sing
it over again to me. Wonderful words of life. Preach
it over and over again. Glorify Him. Glorify Him. Glorify Him. Thank Him. Thank Him. Thank Him. Praise
Him. Praise Him. Praise Him. Verse one says, oh, praise the
Lord. All ye nations, praise Him. All ye people, for his merciful
kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth
forever. Praise ye the Lord. Praise him,
praise him, praise him. Now in these two verses, David
tells us exactly why we praise him. Verse two says, for his merciful kindness is
great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Because this Psalm is so small,
I looked up all of these words in a concordance. I just went
through each one and looked up the definition, the meanings
of every one of these words, and I wanna give the definitions
to you because I believe it will more clearly explain what David
is saying right here. Verse one says, oh, praise the
Lord. The Hebrew word for that is hallelujah. When people say hallelujah, what
they're saying is praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise means, this is the definition
of the word, it means shine the light on. It means boast of. It means celebrate. It means command, and it means
glory in. The Lord. That means God. That means Jehovah. Father, Son, and Spirit. That name means the existing
one. The self-existing one. Praise
Him. Celebrate Him. Shine the light
on Him. Acknowledge Him. Who are you talking to, David?
Who should do that? He said in verse one, all ye
nations. Praise him, all ye people. Does it register with us that
we are Gentiles? You ever thought about that?
We always talk about spiritual Israel and being sheep and all
those things. Does it register that we are
Gentiles? You know, when it talks about
the Gentiles and the heathens and the, does it register that
that's us? Aliens from the Commonwealth
of Israel? Strangers from the covenants
of promise? In the flesh, having no hope
and without God in the world, but God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, he quickened us together with Christ, and by
grace, we're saved. That's how it is for the Jews,
too. We're Gentiles, that's how it is for the Jews, too. They're
not all Israel, which are of Israel. But God had mercy on
some. He didn't have to. He didn't
have to save anybody. He didn't owe it to anybody.
But in His merciful kindness, He chose to save people out of
every tribe, nation, kindred, and tongue on this earth. That
gives me so much hope. Everywhere. God so loved the
world. souls out of every tribe, nation,
kindred, and tongue. That's why every nation and every
people ought to praise the Lord. Everybody ought to. Verse two
says, for his merciful kindness is great toward us. It's great toward us. Merciful
means compassion. It means pity. That's what it
means. If God has mercy on us, he's showing his pity to us and
his compassion to us by not giving us what we deserve. And the only
way that's possible is by giving Christ what we deserve. Kindness
means grace, mercy and grace. Kindness means goodness. It means faithfulness. His faithfulness
to us, it means favor, it means beauty, it means love. His mercy
and His grace, His compassion and His goodness, His pity and
His faithfulness, the beauty of His favor, the beauty of His
love is great toward us. And it is, it is so great toward
us, it's great. In that word, great, we see the
glory of the gospel. I almost didn't look that word
up because I thought, well, I know what that means. I'm so glad
the Lord calls me to look it up anyway. Listen to this. Great
means has prevailed. That's what the word means, has
prevailed. His mercy has prevailed. His grace has prevailed. His compassion, His pity has
prevailed. His goodness, His faithfulness,
His love has prevailed toward us. Toward us. Where did all of that
prevail toward us? On the cross of Calvary. The
cross of Christ, our Lord and our God. His mercy prevailed. That's where God was rich in
mercy to us. What mercy it was. His grace
prevailed. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son. His faithfulness prevailed toward
us. The us word. Every chosen soul
that God the Father gave to Christ, every chosen vessel of mercy,
every chosen recipient of grace, the beauty of the sacrifice of
his love for them, the beauty of the sacrifice of
his blood, the beauty of the sacrifice of his body, the sacrifice
of himself. That sacrifice was great. It
was great. It prevailed. He prevailed for
us in putting away our sin forever. Forever. Verse two says, the truth of the Lord endureth
forever. The truth means the certainty. The stability, the certainty
and the stability of the Lord, Jehovah, the existing one. He is the truth. He said, I am
the truth. His truth endureth. That means stands firm. His truth stands firm. This truth
right here will stand firm. Forever. I love the definition
of this one. Forever means time out of mind. Forever. Everything that we do
is subject to time. Everything that we do. There's
gonna come a day when time is out of mind. Eternity. Forever. In Christ, in his blood,
in his sacrifice, in his gift, his merciful kindness is great
toward us. And in Christ, the truth of the
Lord endureth forever. And this is what David said about
that. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. I don't ever
get tired of hearing that. I really don't. God's people
do not get tired of hearing that. And they don't ever get tired
of saying that. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people
rejoice. Oh, come to the Father through
Christ Jesus, the Son, and give him the glory, great things he
hath done. Amen. Let's all stand together. We're gonna sing that.