Turn back with me to Psalm 116. The Lord is so good. He is so good. We were just away
on vacation. And I was so thankful to have
a few days of rest, rest. And at the end of that vacation,
I was so thankful to come home. I was thankful that I was coming
back to Kingsport. I was driving down, I 59, I-75, thinking, you know, I've
lived in quite a few places. I've been traveling to quite
a few places. I'm so thankful that this van is driving to Kingsport. I was thankful that my heart
calls Kingsport home. It really does. And when I got back, I heard
from a few of you about the wonderful service that you had last Sunday. How the Lord blessed our brother
and gave him a message. I was thankful for that, Tony.
This is hard. If the Lord doesn't help us and
bless us and give us a message and give us the strength to stand
up and the words to speak, oh, it's a miserable thing. I was
thankful for that. I had a few other reasons to
be thankful. And when I got to the study on Thursday, my heart
was full. I was full. And I thought, when I meet with
the brethren on Sunday, I want to have a worship service of
thanksgiving and praise. That's what I want to do. Thanksgiving
and praise. Look at our text. Verse 1 says,
I love the Lord. I love the Lord. Thanks be to God for that, because
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. We just read in
Romans 1 everything that I am by nature. I love darkness rather than light
by nature. But because of God's grace, because of God's mercy, because of the work of His Spirit
in me, because of that, I love the Lord. Isn't that wonderful?
I'm so thankful that I love the Lord. Verse 1 says, I love the Lord
because He hath. That's why I love Him. I love Him because He first loved
me. That's why I love Him. Verse
1 says, I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice and my
supplications. Sometimes we make our supplications
numb. We make our requests numb. Sometimes we have no idea what
to say. We have no idea what to feel.
All we can do is just utter a voice. I love the Lord because He's
heard my voice and my supplications. Verse 2 says, Because He hath
inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long
as I live. Because He hath, therefore will
I. Our God is going to get something
called the preeminence. And that means He is the first
in everything. It all starts with Him. Every
work, every word, every movement, it all begins with Him. But look
at verse 2, it says, "...because He hath inclined His ear unto
me." That word inclined means bent down. Isn't that a wonderful
thought? When you're low and you're hurting
and you just can't raise your voice? Turn over to Psalm 86. Verse 1 says, Bow down thine
ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul,
for I am holy. And that word holy means one
whom Thou favorest. Preserve my soul, for I am one
whom Thou favorest. O Thou, my God, save Thy servant
that trusteth in Thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto Thee daily. Rejoice the soul of Thy servant,
for unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Our text says, Because He hath
allowed me to. Because He hath allowed me to
approach the throne of His grace boldly. Verse 2 says, Because
He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon
Him as long as I live. In Christ, how long will that
be? Forever. Forever. Can you imagine the
thought of, well, this is not a good thought, In glory, we
will have no need. No need of anything. Before we
even know we need it, He's provided it. But can you imagine the thought
of being able to physically run over to Him at any time? As long
as I live. No end. No end. That's amazing. Verse 3 says,
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got
hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. That's the condition I'm in.
Because of my sin. And if I'm left in my sin, if
God leaves me in my sin, death is awaiting me. The pains of
hell are awaiting me. But because He hath..." Verse 4 says, "...then called
I upon the name of the Lord." What was my prayer? What did
I cry? Verse 4 says, "...O Lord, I beseech
Thee Deliver my soul. What a prayer. What a prayer. The disciples said, and we say,
Lord, teach us to pray. What a prayer. That's a prayer that God will
hear. Turn with me over to Matthew
14. Matthew 14 verse 22 says, In
straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship,
and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the
multitudes away. And when they had sent the multitudes
away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening
was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with the waves, for the wind was contrary. 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." Now this happened in a fraction
of a second. You've jumped into the water
before, right? How long does it take you to go under? He was
walking on the water and he got scared. When he took his eyes off of
Christ and realized when his brain registered,
I'm going down. All he had time to say before
the water went over his mouth, was, Lord, save me! Verse 31 says, And immediately
Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto
him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And
when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they
that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a
truth, Thou art the Son of God." Lord, save me. What a prayer. That's the only prayer I need
to pray for the rest of my life. That's a prayer a little child
can pray. May the Lord cause all of us
to pray that prayer. Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Back to our text in Psalm 116. Verse 5 says, Gracious is the
Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. Now, righteousness
must punish unrighteousness. Right? Shall not the holy judge of the
earth do right? But for God's people, this is
wonderful. Look at where God's justice stands. It's in between
grace and mercy. Look at verse 5. It says, Gracious,
righteous, Merciful. Isn't that wonderful? Verse 6 says, The Lord preserveth
the simple. That's me. That's me. It says, I was brought love. Every single one of God's sheep
can say that. Every single one of God's sheep.
I was brought love. And He helped me. Isn't that
wonderful? He helped me. It was all done
to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's why it happened
in the first place. I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't change a thing. Can
you look back on God's providence in your life and say, I wouldn't
change a thing. I would change me if I could. But I wouldn't change a thing.
Verse 7 says, Return unto thy rest, O my soul. For the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with thee. Return unto thy rest. Thank the
Lord God for rest. Rest is a wonderful thing. Where
can I find it? Where can I find rest? Where
can I return to rest? There's only one place. He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures. The Lord Jesus Christ is my rest. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. Here's my problem, is I'm troubled. I'm worried. I have a lot going
on. What do I do? Return unto thy
rest, O my soul. Would you get out of this mess
and return unto my rest? For the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with thee, soul. Soul. Return unto thy rest, for the
Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." Bountifully. What has
He done for you? Verse 8. Three things. Thou hast delivered my soul from
death, mine eyes from tears, and my
feet from falling. He's dealt bountifully with us.
If He's chosen us for His own, He's delivered our souls from
death. How did He do that? He killed
His own Son. He made Him to be sin. Who knew
no sin? We might be made the righteousness
of God. The Lord hath dealt bountifully with us. He's delivered our eyes
from tears. We're going to have them for
the rest of our walk on this life. We're going to have tears,
and we're going to have tears, but I want you to turn to Isaiah
35. Isaiah 35 verse 3 says, Strengthen
ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them
that are of a fearful heart, Be strong. Fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame man leap as in heart, and the tongue of the
dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters
break out, and streams in the desert. Verse 10 says, And the
ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Revelation says, For the Lamb
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall
lead them unto living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes." There's a time coming when we're
not going to shed one more tear. Now, as I hear that, I've always
thought, I enjoy shedding happy tears. But tears of sorrow, never again. Never again. The Lord hath dealt
bountifully with us. He's delivered our feet from
falling. Just listen to this. Psalm 37
says, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and
he delighteth in His way. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. Are we going to slip? Yes. But
though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. For the
Lord upholdeth him with His hand. The Lord hath dealt bountifully
with us." Bountifully. Well, what's the result of His
doing? What's the result of this bountiful
work? Back to our text, look at verse
9. Psalm 116 verse 9. It says, I
will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. By Him ordering my every step, by His goodness and grace, I
will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. You know, for a sinner who is
wallowing in the miry clay, stuck, just stuck, sinking in
the cesspool of sin. What a wonderful thing to hope
for. What a wonderful thing to desire and believe. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. Verse 10 says, I believed, therefore
have I spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said
in my haste, all men are liars. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all His benefits toward me? What could I possibly do,
possibly give to the Lord to say thank you for all His goodness
to me? I'm a liar. I'm going to do all
this? I'm a liar. All men are liars. I'm one of them. Let God be true. I don't even trust my lip service. So what will I do? Verse 13 says,
I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the
Lord. I'll take the cup of all my sins Call upon the name of my Savior, my Redeemer. I'll take the cup
of God's wrath, the punishment that must be fulfilled
for salvation. I'm going to call upon the name
of the Lord. Lord, take it for me. Because of His goodness, I'm
going to take the cup of mercy. The cup of mercy. David said,
my cup is running over. It's just running over. Somebody wrote this. I don't
know who, but somebody wrote this. Listen to this. The best return for one like
me so wretched and so poor, is from His gifts to draw a plea
and ask Him still for more. Lord, I've lost it. I've lost
everything You've given me. I've ruined it. I need more. I need more mercy.
I need more grace. I need more of Your cup of goodness. Spurgeon said on this verse right
here, I love this. I love Charles Spurgeon. I want
to talk to him too. Me and him and David. Beloved reader, let
us pause here and take a long and deep draft from the cup which
our Lord Jesus filled, and then with devout hearts let us worship
God. Verse 14 says, I will pay my
vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people. Is
there any greater blessing than to be gathered together in the
presence of all His people, offering Him our gifts of thanksgiving
and praise? Of all the blessings in this life, is there any greater
blessing than being gathered together in the presence of all
His people and giving Him thanksgiving and praise. Turn over to Psalm
95 with me. Verse 1 says, O come, let us
sing unto the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of
our salvation. Let us come before His presence
with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. For
the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places
of the earth. The strength of the hills is
His also. The sea is His, and He made it. And His hands formed the dry
land. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before
the Lord, our Maker." That's our heart's desire, isn't it?
That's all we want to do when we gather together, isn't it?
Let us bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker. Turn with
me over to Psalm 133. Psalm 133, verse 1 says, how good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It's like the precious
ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's
beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the
dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains
of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. What a great blessing this is. What a great blessing this is.
If God will have grace on us, gift to us, and have mercy on
us, we're going to get to do this for the rest of our lives
here. What a great blessing this is. Why? Why is that? Let's go back to
our text. I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all His people. Verse 15 says, Precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. What a sweet verse that is. That's a sweet verse. It's precious
because they died in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is so precious
in the eyes of His Father. Physically, when the time comes
for one of God's little children, one who has been redeemed with
precious blood, to lay down this body of Flesh is a precious time. It's precious to the Lord. It's precious to the one He's
calling. And it's precious to the believing
church around that person. Do you know why? The Lord is
there. That's why. The Lord is there. My father and one of my sisters,
Hannah, the middle one, they were both in the hospital
room when my mother took her last breath. Saw her chest go up and big down
for the last time. And every time I think about
that, do you know what stands out in my mind about that exact
moment in time? The Lord was there. The Lord was there. What do you
mean there? I mean, He was in that room.
That's what I mean. I don't want to sound emotional.
I really don't. But our God is a loving Lord. He was there. I know He was there. And I want to believe that He
had a hand on each shoulder of my father and my sister. Dying
grace. The Lord was there. Verse 15 says, Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. The Lord is there
watching over them, soothing them, sustaining them. He's the one
who personally receives their soul. And it's a precious thing. It's precious. I want you to
turn with me to Acts chapter 7. This is one of my favorite
stories in the Scripture. Acts chapter 7, look at verse
54. Now Stephen is preaching the
gospel to these people. And verse 54 says, When they
heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed
on him with their teeth. But he being full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory
of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he
said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing
on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud
voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he
just fell asleep. Our God is seated in the heavens,
right? And when his little child was
dying, It says right here, God stood up to receive him unto Himself.
Isn't that wonderful? The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. Stephen asked the Lord, lay not
this sin to their charge. Did the Lord hear him? Do you know who was heading all
that up? The Apostle Paul. Man, the Lord is good. I love
the Lord. I love the Lord. Psalm 37 says,
Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that
man is peace. Peace. We have so much to be
thankful for, don't we? Back to our text. Psalm 116. Verse 16 says, O Lord, truly
I am Thy servant. I am Thy servant and the son
of Thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I
was born into Thy house a servant. My mother was Your servant. I
truly belong to You. And I'm thankful for it. And
I'm thankful for it. Thou hast loosed my bonds. You've
paid my debt. You've set me free. I'm willingly
Your servant. There's nothing else I want to
be. Nothing. David said, Oh, I just wish I
could be a doorkeeper. Verse 17 says, I will offer to
Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of
the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence
of all His people." Didn't he just say that? Verse 14, I will
pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people.
He just did that. He said, I want to do it again. What time are you all meeting?
I want to be there again. Let's do it again. When Hannah's grandfather, his name is Ed Ballard, when he got a hold of the truth,
he told Hannah's other grandfather, his name is Henry Mahan, I'm going to be here next Sunday,
and then I'm going to be here the Wednesday after that, and
then I'm going to be here the Sunday after that. I want to
do it again. I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all His people. What a blessing. Verse 19 says, In the courts
of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem, praise
ye the Lord. Amen. Alright, let's stand together.