Psalm 106. Go there now. I gave
you a verse on Monday morning that has stuck with me. I hope
it's stuck with you. We've looked at this psalm several
times together. In fact, I went back and looked
at notes and we looked at this very verse one year ago almost
to this day on Wednesday night. And then I looked again, and
we looked at it one year before that on Wednesday night. So I
believe we're supposed to look at it once a year on Wednesday
night. The whole psalm is a great blessing. I know you were blessed
with me as we read it. But this one line, this one verse
spoke to me again, and I gave it to you Monday, verse 47. It's
a prayer, a brief prayer. Verse 47, Save us, O Lord our
God, and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto
thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. Save us, O Lord
our God. We need saving, all of us, us,
our children. Salvation is of the Lord, and
so he's praying unto the Lord. Save us, O Lord our God. Salvation
belongeth unto the Lord. We can't save ourselves. We need
saving. We need to pray, cry constantly. Save us, O Lord our God. Us. Save us. This psalm begins with
praise. Did you notice that? Praise ye
the Lord. It ends with praise. We ought
to begin and end every day with praise. This psalm begins with
thanks. This psalm ends with thanks.
We ought to begin and end every day with thanksgiving. This psalm
begins with a prayer in verse 4. Remember me, O Lord, with
the favor Thou barest unto Thy people, that I may see the good
of Thy chosen. It ends with a prayer. Verse
47. Save us. We need to begin and
end every day with prayer. And this one verse It's very
short, but a good prayer to pray. Easy to remember. I hope you've
already memorized it and never forget it. Save us, O Lord our
God, and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto
thy name and to triumph in thy praise. Save us, O Lord our God.
Oh, how we need to pray that constantly. Save us. Simon cried. Simon Peter cried when he was
going down under the bed. Oh, save me, Lord. David cried. Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Hear my voice. Jonah cried in
the belly of the whale. Save me. Salvations of the Lord. Save us. Save us. Notice in our text it says, save
us. Save us. The Lord taught us in
the prayer that He gave His disciples when they said, teach us to pray. And He did. He taught them as
a group. And He taught us to pray this
way. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us. Lead us not into
temptation. Deliver us from evil. The Lord has always taught us
this. Pray for one another. Pray for each other. The Lord
will bless you if you pray for others. Listen to Psalm 122. How many times have we looked
at this together? Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
They shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls. There's no peace elsewhere. Prosperity
within thy palaces. When do you prosper more than
when you're gathered from among the heathen to meet with God's
people, to praise His name, and you triumph in His praise over
the world and the sea, just for a little while. It seems like
you're above it all, don't you? David said, for my brethren,
my companions' sake, I will now say, peace be with them. Because
of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek Thy good. Save
us. Pray this prayer constantly.
Save us, O Lord. Our God. The Lord, Jehovah, is
our God. Jehovah Witnesses, that's not
their God. They don't even know Him. But
the Lord is our God. Listen to these psalms. The Lord
our God. Our Lord is Lord. Our God is
God. God our Savior. Psalm 18 verse
31 says, Who is God save the Lord? Who is a rock save our God? Over in Deuteronomy 32, I think
it is, says, there are rocks not like our God. Listen to this,
Psalm 68, verse 20. He that is our God is the God
of salvation. And unto God the Lord belong
the issues from death. He says, I kill. And I make it
like we're going to see a little bit how that we will try when
we realize that he's the God over the living and the dead.
He's God. We're going to try when we see
that our God is the Lord, our God and the Lord, our God, our
God was manifest in play. Our God came to this earth. Our
God walked this planet. Most people think He was just
a man. Oh, no. He's the God-man. God manifested
in the flesh. You know how much I love Isaiah
25. It shall be said in that day,
Lo, this is our God. We've waited for Him. He will
save us. And Jesus Christ is His name.
The Lord our God. Save us, O Lord our God. He came
and He did. Saved us. Saved His people. Look at our text again. Verse
47. Save us, O Lord our God, and
gather us. Gather us. We would not gather
here if the Lord doesn't gather us. You would not be here if
the Lord hadn't gathered you. Oh, blessed is the man, the woman
whom God chooses and causes to approach. What does that mean?
It means makes you to lie down and makes you to sit together
in heaven. But you would not come if He
didn't say come. And so this prayer, we should
always pray. Gather us, let me not forsake
the assembling of myself together, but gather me with the saints
by the river that flows from the throne of God. Shall we gather? I started to sing that song.
He played that day. Shall we gather at the river
where bright angels feed a tribe? The crystal flowing river that
flows from the throne of God, Revelation 21. What river is
that? The river of His mercy. The river of His grace. The river
of His blood. Who wouldn't want to gather there?
Not the polluted cisterns of this world, but the fountain
flowing freely from the throne of God. Ezekiel 34. If you hadn't read Ezekiel 34
in a while, you're going to jump a pew. This is wonderful. Ezekiel
34. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
great shepherd of the sheep. Kevin, if I would give you a
psalm to read tonight, it would have been Psalm 23. That's what
he chose to read. He's the great shepherd of the
sheep, the Lord our shepherd who came to seek and to save
the lost, who came to gather his lost sheep together into
the fold. Look at Ezekiel 34, verse 5.
They were scattered because there were no shepherd. They became
meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.
My sheep wandered through all the mountains upon every high
hill. Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the faces of the earth,
and none did search or seek after them. Verse 11, For thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep
and seek them out. Now that's God it's speaking
in. Jehovah God. Well didn't our Lord Jesus Christ
say, I am the Good Shepherd. So who's speaking here, God or
Christ? Yes. These two are one. He is God. He's the Great Shepherd. Verse 12, "...as a shepherd seeketh
out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are
scattered, so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them."
Out of all places, you're going to see Psalm 107. All places
where they've been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And
I will bring them out from the people, the heathen, and gather
them from the country and bring them and feed them. I want to
read it all, but we don't have time. Verse 22, look at this. Therefore will I save my flock. They shall no more be a prey.
I will judge between cattle and cattle. I'll set up one shepherd
over them. Who's that? Jesus Christ. And
he shall feed them. My servant David. Do you understand
that David's been dead for years when Ezekiel wrote it? He's talking
about Christ, the Son of David. He shall feed them. He shall
be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their
God. And my servant David, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have
spoken it. You want to read a little more?
Look at verse 30. Thus shall they know that I, the Lord, their
God, am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are
my people, saith the Lord God. And ye, my flock, the flock of
my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God. You need a text, John? John? Ezekiel 34. I go back to Psalm
106. Aren't you glad the Lord gathered
you to Himself? He gathers His people to Himself.
He gathers His people into the fold. He gathers His people into
the fold to hear the gospel. And tonight, you're not here
by accident. You're not here by choice. That
is not your choice. You're here because He gathered
you. Aren't you glad? He's gathered you and made you
sit together in this heavenly place. Oh, as I quoted Hebrews
10, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Pray
this prayer so that you won't forsake the assembly. Pray this
prayer constantly. Save us, O Lord our God, and
gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy name
and triumph in thy praise. We will be overcome if we don't
come here and gather and praise his name. The world will overcome
us. Save us and gather us. And our text says, from among
the heathen. And such were some of you. All
of us were heathen, weren't we? Yes, we were. Listen to this,
your favorite verses. Ephesians 2. Remember, you in
time past were Gentiles in the flesh, uncircumcised. At that
time you were without Christ. Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. Strangers from the covenant of
promise. Having no hope without God in
the world. But now. in Christ Jesus. You who sometime were far off
are made nigh, gathered by the blood of Christ. Oh my. In Exodus, you remember how Exodus
started out? Where the Lord told Moses to
go into Pharaoh and tell him, let my people go. We've got to
go out in the wilderness and have a feast. You know that's
why the Lord saved you? So you can come in here and praise
Him. So you can come in here and give thanks. So you can come
in here and triumph in His prayer. So pray every day. Pray this
every day. Save us, O Lord our God, from
among the heathen. Gather us from among the heathen.
I say this so often. My pastor said it so often. I've
seen so many. He's seen so many overcome. are
these two things, the people of the world and the things of
this world. The two most dangerous things,
the people of this world and the things of this world. Why
were the children of Israel overcome in the wilderness? What were
the two things that kept them from going to the Promised Land?
The people of this world and the things of this world. Look
at verse 35. They were mingled among the heathen and learned
their They became just like them. They're not supposed to be like
them. They're sanctified people. They're set apart. People set
apart for God's glory and God's honor to walk with God and follow
God, not the world. But they mingled with the people
and reverted right back to what God saved them out of. Gather
us, pray this prayer constantly. Gather us from among the heathen. Gather us from the world. Save us from the world, from
loving it. Save us from coveting it. It's
so dangerous. Save us from following it. Save
us from falling in with it. Save us from admiring it. Save
us from the world. Save us from being overcome by
it. Save us from walking in it, with it, talking about it, being
overcome by it. Save us from the world. Love
not the world, nor the things of the world. Did our Lord warn
us that, Counselor? They mingled among them, they
learned their ways, they talked their talk, and they were destroyed.
Listen to this. Listen to Psalm 1. This is how
the Psalms begin. The Psalms begin this way. Is
that important? The Psalms begin this way. Blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners. Nor sitteth in the seat of the
scorned one. Save us, O Lord. Gather us from among the heathen.
Look at the next thing in our text. Gather us from among the
heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name. To give thanks. It
is salvation to know the Lord is God. That's what our Lord
said in John 17, verse 3, didn't He? He said, This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. To know God is to know that everything
you are and have is from God. To know God is to know that He
created all things for His glory. By Him, for Him, through Him,
to Him are all things created. To know that God is God means
He didn't create this for you, He created it for Himself. And
everything redounds to His glory. So when you come to know God
and fear God, you will say, it's all of Him. It's all about Him.
It's all for Him. Everything you have. By the grace
of God, Paul said, I am what I am. Know what I know. Have what I have. A man can receive
nothing except what? It be given him from above. What
do we have that we have not received? So this is what it means to praise
God, to give Him thanks for everything, to glorify Him for everything. Any pride whatsoever is to say
there's something you've done, something we've done, something
we know, something we've accomplished, something we've obtained. Without
God, there's no place for pride in God's people. There's no place
for pride anywhere. Lord, save us from among the
heathen to give thanks unto thy name. To give thanks. The heathen
do not thank God. They don't even believe there
is God. In Romans 1 it says they were not thankful. Did not like
to retain God in their knowledge. They think they know a lot. Professing
themselves to be wise and fool. But they think they know a lot
of things. But if you don't start with God, you don't know anything. David said in Psalm 10, God is
not in all their thoughts. Psalm 10 verse 4. They think
a lot of things, they think about a lot of things, but God's not
one of them. Let that not be so with God's people. Let us
not think of anything without thanking our God. Gather us from among the heathen
to give thanks. God has saved a people out of
the heathen, from among the heathen, to give thanks for all things,
good and bad. I tell you to read Psalm 90 about
once every week. Listen to this. Make us glad
according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the
years wherein we have seen evil. It's God's goodness. It's God's
mercy. It's a gift of God to His people
to send them trials. Why? To make them acknowledge
God. We saw that in Psalm 106. We
saw it in Psalm 107. When they got in trouble, then
they cried unto the Lord. What do you do? Saved them out
of all their trouble. So God sends His people trouble. You remember David was envious
at the prosperity of the wicked in Psalm 73? And he realized. that He's fattening them for
the slaughter. But He's weaning God's people. You read with me
in Psalm 106, it said He gave them their request and they got
all the stuff that this world could give them, but they had
leadness of soul. So God weans us out by trials
and troubles and tribulations and afflictions, so much so that
we want out of here. And we realize it's His hand,
it's His goodness. Thou in Thy goodness has afflicted
me. Oh my. It's good for me that
I've been afflicted that I might learn Thy statute. What's this
statute? That we have here no continuing
city. The children of Israel wandered,
they were wilderness wanderers like Brother Philpott wrote in
an article. We're not staying here. So, save us, O Lord our God,
gather us from among the heathen to give thanks chiefly for the
greatest gifts, the one thing, people, the one thing that saves us the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I hear you men pray all the time.
You always thank God for the precious blood of the Lamb. To
you who believe, He is precious. His blood is precious. This salvation
is precious. His gospel is precious. Why do
we always bring that up? Because that's why we're gathered. That's why He brought us together.
The children of Israel in those homes in Egypt, what were they
all praising God and seeking the Lord and talking about underneath? What was covering their houses? The Lord had gathered them together
in those houses and put the blood over that door and over those
lentils. And they were eating that lamb and singing His praises. And we're doing that now, and
we're going to do it forever. You learn that song here. You
learn to love lamb here. Gather us among the heathen to
give thanks for the blood of the lamb. for the Lord Jesus
Christ, for the Gospel. Look at this. To give thanks
unto Thy holy name. Oh, He's gathered us from among the
heathen to realize that we're to fear His name. Now more than ever. Please tell
me that it hurts your heart to hear people using God's name
now. David said, Unite my heart to fear thy name. Oh, let us make mention among
the heathen that his name is exalted. It's not meant for a
bumper sticker, a t-shirt, or a bathroom wall. It's meant to
be in the highest place in heaven. It's not meant to be used except
in fear, and reverence, and respect, and worship, and glory. Oh, let us make mention His name
is Holy. Let us glorify His name, give
thanks unto His name, and Jesus, the only name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
use that name in reverence. You do. I know you do. But now
more than ever, don't get used to people saying that. Don't
get used to people saying, oh my God. And don't you say it.
And don't let your children say it. If anybody says, oh my gosh,
correct them. Say, that's too close. That sounds
too much like God's name. Don't do it. Especially now. God's not in all their thoughts,
but He's in all their lips. Gather us from among the heathen
to give thanks unto thy name. I didn't mean to get so intense
about that. I'm telling you, time's short,
people. I'm telling you the truth now.
This ain't funny. This ain't funny. It's close. These people we're around, they're
using God's name. God will not hold him guiltless
who takes his name in vain. He said that. He warned that
implicitly. He does everything for his name's
sake. He saves people for his name's
sake. The name of his son is precious.
If God, someone was using your son's name in a careless way,
do you love that person? I don't want you taking my wife's
name and name, let alone my God. Tell them. Warn them. Don't use
that name. Gather us from among the heathen
to give thanks unto thy name, to fear thy name, to glorify
thy name. Now look at this. Now I'm going
to smile the rest of the time. And I do smile at the thought that
God has gathered us, that God has taught us the fear of the
Lord, that God has taught us to fear His name, that you do
respect that name. I never hear you say that name
except in reverence and respect. We've got relatives that are
religious, and you do too, and one of them, we love them. We
love them. But this one young lady, a mother of children, We
love her, but she was one time, she was just saying, oh, just
had a Jesus moment. That ain't funny. What do you think God thinks about that? Save us from that. From unto
he that giveth thanks unto thy holy name. Now here it is. And
to triumph in thy praise. When the people were, some of
the people in Nehemiah were, in Nehemiah's day, they were,
when they read the book and some of them were crying because they
were broken the law. And it was at Nehemiah said,
don't weep, the joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of
the Lord is your strength. Don't laugh, smile, be happy. Make mirth. But they were both
crying and laughing at the same time. He said, the joy of the
Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord. This is
what Paul said time and again from prison in Philippi. He wrote to the Philippians,
he wrote to the Philippians, rejoice in the Lord. He was in prison. They weren't.
Again I say, rejoice in the Lord. The joy of the Lord your strength.
What does that mean? We will triumph in His praise. We will triumph over unbelief
if we realize the Lord is our God. He really is Lord over all. He's God. There are no gods but
Him. There is no one who has any authority
over anything, no one that can do anything unless he says do
it. Now that will relieve you of
your unbelief. What are we going to do? We're not going to do
anything. We're going to stand back and see the salvation of
the Lord. Isn't that what they said to Jehoshaphat and all the
people? The battle is not yours, it's
the Lord's. Do you remember that story? Jehoshaphat said, well,
let's just start singing then. And they did. And the enemy was
defeated. They triumphed in his praise. The Lord's in control. It doesn't
matter what you see. It doesn't matter what you hear.
It doesn't matter how things appear. God's God. I started to sing
that song, This is My Father's World. The world seems oft so
strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my Father's Word. He
made it, and He controls it. Unbelief. You'll triumph over
unbelief. You'll triumph over fear. You'll triumph over fear,
believing that God is God. Listen to David, and don't you
know he was faced with fears that you and I will never be
faced with. all his life. His life was jeopardy. He said, the Lord is my life
and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? You love this verse, don't you
sister? What time I am afraid, I'll trust in the Lord. He was
afraid, but he didn't shouldn't have been. You'll only triumph
in His praise. You realize it's the Lord. No
matter what it may appear to be, it is the Lord. You'll triumph over fear. You'll
triumph over distress. Trouble. Remember Paul said we're
in trouble but not in distress. Trouble. Death. You'll triumph
over death. Someone dies. How can people
get through the death of a dearly beloved husband or child or something
that don't believe God did it? And most don't. And they blame
God. But not Job did it. The Lord
killed all his family. All his children. Ten. What did
he say? The Lord gave them to me. And
the Lord took them away. They weren't mine to begin with.
He gave them to me. I enjoyed them for a while. He
took them away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He triumphs over death that would have destroyed him. See that? Why? Because he knows God is
the issues of death belong to the Lord. He says, I kill. People don't understand that.
People say, I don't like that. I do. Don't you? Would you like it if things happened
that God didn't want to happen and they happen anyway? That doesn't even make good sense.
Why do you need Him? Oh, you'll triumph. through his
praise, realizing it's the Lord. That's all Job could say. Have
a sister who's lost a son she loved dearly. And I've never
been through that. I don't want to go through it. And that's got to be one of the
toughest trials on this earth. But I just told her, it's the
Lord. Just say with Eli, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemed good to
him. Just say with Job, the Lord gave. Just leave it right there.
Say with Abraham, he was worried about his lot. Lot was like a
son to him. The judge there will do right.
Leave it there. Take that burden to the Lord
and leave it there. He does what's right. He'll triumph in his praise. You'll triumph over this world.
This is my Father's world. Now turn with me to Acts 16,
and I'll close. Acts 16. I just told you about
Paul at Philippi, or right into the Philippines, that is. Acts
chapter 16 is the story of Paul and Silas. I love this. Save us, O Lord, our God, from
among the heathen, and gather us from among the heathen. to
give thanks in thy name and triumph in thy praise. In Acts chapter
16, Paul was preaching the gospel, Paul and Silas, traveling all
over. And in the city of Philippi,
it says in verse 20, that they brought Paul and Silas to
the magistrates, the judges. These men, the Jews, are exceedingly
trouble our city. The city was in trouble. And
the Lord sent men to get them out of trouble. But the Lord
didn't intend to save the whole city, but He saved some people
out of that city. What kind of people? A jailer. How did He do that? He put Paul
in jail. He says, these men trouble our city and teach customs which
are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe their Roman. The multitude rose up together
against them, and the magistrates or judges rent off their clothes
and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them. Now people, this is a mob. This is an angry mob. And not
one, not two, but a bunch of people ganged up on these two
harmless servants sent by God. And they beat them unmercifully. How could God, did God do that? How could God allow such a thing?
Wait and read the rest of it. Okay? What do Paul and Silas
think about that? They lay many stripes, verse
23, on them. They cast them into prison. Threw them up against a stone
wall. charging the jailer to keep them
safely, who received the charge and thrust them into the inner
prison and made fast their feet in iron chains. Have you ever had anything around
your legs and your feet? Iron chains. Locked them tight. Cut the circulation off. God did this. God did this. Our God did this. And Paul and Silas, there's not
an inch of their body that's not lacerated and hurt and bruised
like our Lord on Calvary's tree. And Paul realized that. I'm getting
less than I deserve. Silas realized that. I'm getting
less than my Lord got. He hath not dealt with us according
to our sin. So at midnight, Paul and Silas
pray, save us Oh Lord our God, gather us among the heathen to
give thanks unto thy name and triumph in thy praise. And so
Paul and Silas said, let's sing. And they sang praises. Oh, how merciful. How? Through bleeding, swollen lips. How merciful. And verse 26, there was a great
earthquake, the foundation of the prison was shaken, the doors
were opened, and the bands fell off. And the Lord raised up a church
in Philippi. It's the only way it could be
done. That's the way God did it. They triumphed, didn't they,
in His praise. No matter how bad it is, no matter
what it is, it is the Lord. Give thanks and you won't be
overcome by grief, distress, sorrow, worry, fear, doubt, unbelief. You'll triumph in His praise.
Okay. Stand with me.