It says, Return unto thy rest, O
my soul. For the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul
from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. What a verse. I'm so thankful
that the Lord raised up a man like David, aren't you? And had
him write so many psalms that are so precious. So precious. Precious means you've got to
have it. Dear to you. That we may read
these Psalms at any time and find great peace and great joy. That's, I believe, what the Lord
meant, part of what He meant when He said, I'm a very present
help. The Lord wrote this book of remembrance. And we may resort
to it at any time. In times of trouble and sorrow,
David had just gone through some sort of trouble and sorrow. We
don't know what it was, but afterward he wrote this psalm about him
calling on the Lord and how the Lord delivered his soul, delivered
his eyes Wiped away the tears and kept his peace from the Father.
Man, oh man. He says in verse 1, I love the
Lord. Now, every believer ought to declare this without
hesitation. I know we don't walk around telling
people how much we love the Lord. Self-righteous people, hypocrites
do that. They want people, you know, they've
got these bumper stickers, I love Jesus. They're wanting you to know. They're bragging on themselves.
We don't do that. God's people don't do that. We
don't go around talking about our love for Him. But now, every
believer can say from the heart, I love the Lord. The Lord turned
to Simon, Simon Peter, who had just denied that he even knew
Him. And this is what he said, Simon,
not Peter, the rock. Simple Simon, son of Jonas, sinner
like your daddy, son of Adam, lovest thou me more than these." What did he say? Yea, Lord. You know, he's got tears in his
eyes, his heart's broken, he's ashamed of himself, and he says,
yes, yes, you know I love you. Why? You put it there. I didn't
love you before until you first loved me. Until you came where
I was and revealed yourself to me and shed abroad this love
in my heart. Yes, Lord. I love Thee, Lord. That's not presumption. That's
not bragging. Besides, this is private here. This is the Lord's Word to the
Lord's people to their hearts who can say with David, I love the Lord, every believer.
You know, true love must be expressed. And it will be. It's going to
come out. I love you. True love must be
expressed. The lover has to tell it, and
the loved one needs to hear it. Right? That's the nature of love. And that's what the Lord asked
Simon, lovest thou me? Oh, the Lord proved his love,
having loved his own. He said he loved him to the end.
Greater love hath no man than this. He laid down his life.
Did the Lord love Simon? Oh, did he? Did he? Do you love me? Do you love me? You know, there
are many evidences of salvation. Faith. Everybody's faith. Hope. Love. What's the greatest? Love. They all go together. But the greatest is love. It
says, I love the Lord. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. That love the Lord. Love the Lord. talk about loving
the Lord when all they love really is what they can get out of it. But God's people love Him. Love Him. Who He is. Who He is. So David said, one thing have
I desired. And that's what I'll seek after.
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life to behold the beauty of the Lord." He fell in love with
the Lord. That's what salvation is. It's
a marriage. It's a bride. It's a woman, a
forlorn woman at that, falling in love with her beautiful husband,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I love the Lord. I love Him.
I love His Word. It's like the Shulamite maiden
in the Song of Solomon. I love the sound of His voice.
That's the preaching of the Word. That's His Word. That's His voice. Don't you love His Word? You
love to hear it? I love His Word. His worship. Every time God's people meet
together, they meet to worship God. Why? He deserves it. He deserves it. And they want
to do it. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all His benefits? I want to worship Him. It's not
duty. It's not mere habit. It's not
a chore. David said, I love the Lord.
This is salvation. There was a time when I didn't
love this. His worship. His salvation. Tell
me, you that love the Lord, do you love His salvation? His glory,
that He gets all the glory? Say unto them that love thy salvation,
the Lord be magnified. We're going to stand up here
every time we meet together, and I'm going to stand up and
proclaim salvation is of the Lord. Now, who's going to love
that? Who's going to come hear that? Those that love the Lord.
Love His name. Love His glory. Love His Son. We had a little party the other
day for Isabella. That was Isabella's party. Alright? We invited some people that love
Isabella. It was all about Isabella, wasn't
it? Those that love her, delighted
to come and bring gifts. And it was her day, wasn't it? The Lord's Day. That's what God's people do.
That's what they love. They rejoice. They worship God. They rejoice in Christ Jesus.
It's not about me. It's not about so I can get up
and show off as a preacher and tell you what I've learned. You'd
be impressed with me. No. Not to be seen or heard,
it's to see Him, to hear Him, to worship Him. Now, David says,
I love the Lord. Do you? That's the surest evidence
of salvation. Because that's going to abide
forever. Faith is going to give way to
sight. Hope is going to give way to reality. But love goes
on forever. Oh, I love the Lord. Why, David? Well, John said, because he first
loved me. David says, because he hath heard
my voice and my supplication, verse 2, because he hath inclined
his ear unto me. Emphasize, me. Because he heard
me. He said, this poor sinner cried
and the Lord heard me. David wrote another psalm, Psalm
8, he said, When I consider the heavens the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man
that thou art mindful of him? But most amazing of all, thee." This is what Mephibosheth said,
didn't he? When he was brought in, he was
fetched and brought in before David. A man who deserved to
be killed, Mephibosheth. A man who deserved to die. A
rebel against king who had no interest in David. One day, David
said, Go fetch Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake. And God Almighty
said the same thing about every one of these rebels, sinners
who had no care about God whatsoever. For Christ's sake, he remembered
his covenant. He remembered. He said, go fetch
this one and that one. For Christ's sake, bring him
in. Sit him down. And like Mephibosheth, we say,
who am I that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as
I am? David said, look upon you. I
love you. Look upon you. You're going to
sit at my table for the rest of your days. Look upon you. You're going to be the king's
son. Dead dog? I say son. I love the Lord. He looked on me. Oh, man. That old dog I put in the hole
the other day. A dead dog. You know, I still
think about it. I still think about a dead dog.
Oh, how much more does the Lord remember you? That's what the
thief said, isn't it? Oh, Lord, remember me. Remember
you? Your mother and your father may forget you, but I can't forget
that I engraved you on the palms of my hands. I loved you before
the world began. Remember you? I've thought about
you from all eternity. I can never forget you. You may
forget me. I can't forget you. I love you, Lord. He heard me. You remember old Bartimaeus?
A blind beggar. That's about as hopeless and
useless as you can get it. A blind beggar sitting by the
wayside in rags. Who needs a blind beggar? Well,
he's sitting over by the wayside and he hears that Jesus Christ,
his only hope, is passing by and he cries. He calls upon the
Lord in truth. I mean, from a heart full of
need. Jesus, Thou Son of David, have
mercy on me." That's the magic word. And the King of Glory. Who is
this King of Glory? Jesus Christ. The King of Glory
is walking through this earth. Stop. Somebody's crying. Who? Not a wise man. Not a mighty
man. Not a noble man. Not somebody. A blind beggar. stops in his tracks and turns
and says, bring him to me. Oh, he heard me. He inclined
his ear unto me. A whole crowd of people, the
King of Glory once again, sitting, teaching, alright? A room full of self-righteous
Pharisees and religious people and all that. And they bring
unto Him a woman caught in the act of adultery, guilty, shame,
guilty, and threw her at His feet. Everybody's talking. Everybody's
spouting off. Moses says she's to be stoned. That's what we
think she should be done. That should be done to her. You
know, we've never... What do you say? And he says
he didn't hear them. Scripture says he made it as
though he didn't hear them. He's not listening to them. Oh,
but he inclined his ear. This one was not saying a word.
Everybody else is doing all the talking. This woman is not saying
a word. Oh, but she's crying out from
her heart. God, be merciful to me that said
I don't want to die. He climbed his ear. It says he
stooped down. And when it was all over, everybody
was gone but him and her. Everybody's guilty but her. Oh, he inclined his ear to me. How about you? I'm blindsided. I'm that woman. How about you?
Oh, my. Scripture said in Psalm 145 that
the Lord is merciful to all that call upon Him in truth. Oh, everybody's
calling on the Lord today, aren't they? His name's on everybody's
lips. But their heart is far from calling
on the Lord. Huh? Oh, people call. Oh, Lord,
I need a job. Oh, Lord, I need this. Oh, Lord,
I need this. I need that. Lord, I need more
money. Huh? Get me out of debt. If you get
me out of debt, you'll get right back in. Huh? Everybody's doing that. The Lord will hear the cry of
them that call upon Him in truth. Yeah, here's what Scripture says,
Psalm 145, He'll save them. He'll look to those that fear
Him, that cry unto Him in truth. What does that mean, to cry in
truth? That means to cry from a true need of that one thing
needful? What's that? Look at this. Just browse the
Scripture. Just glance at it. Psalm 117.
Oh, praise the Lord, all ye nations. Praise Him, all ye people. What
for, David? His merciful kindness. See that? Great toward us. The truth of
the Lord. Psalm 118. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord.
He's good. Why? His mercy endureth forever. Verse 2, let Israel now say,
His mercy. Verse 3, let the house of Aaron
say, He's mercy. Verse 4, let them that fear the
Lord, He's mercy. Verse 5, I called on the Lord,
He heard me. What for, David? Mercy. The Lord delights to show it to all
that call upon Him in truth. Truth? Pilate said, what is truth? He didn't know what it was, though
it was standing right in front of him. Christ is the truth. To all that
call upon Him from a true need for mercy, for salvation. David said, Lord, save my soul. Didn't he? Verse 4, that's what
he said in our text, O Lord, deliver my soul. So much talk
today about deliverance, isn't it? Religion is so full of talk
about deliverance. And most of what they're talking
about is deliverance from addictions to drugs and gambling and debt. Well, no doubt people need deliverance
from those things. But that's not what David is
crying out for. So few cry, Lord, deliver my
soul. from sin, from death, from hell. Lord, deliver, save my soul,
have mercy on my sinful soul. Like David, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquity.
So few say that, but all of God's people say that continually. He said, He heard my voice, so
I'm going to cry, verse 2, as long as I live. Why? Because I'm going to be a sinner
until the day I die. As long as I live, I'm going
to cry for mercy. And bless God, His mercy endureth
forever. The constant cry of those who
truly call is, Lord, be merciful. Save my soul. Save my soul. The sinner's greatest need is
the Lord's greatest glory. And it's the theme of Scripture.
Mercy. To all that call. That's what
it means to call on the name of the Lord. Because He's merciful. Verse
4 says, Gracious is the Lord. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Our God is merciful. David said, I'm going to keep
calling. to the day I die, because He heard me the first time, and
because He is gracious, and because He is merciful and delights to
show it." I just believe you'll keep answering me. You know, it's proof that someone
loves you if you keep calling on them only when you need something. And they answer you. They answer you. Do you hear
me? You call on somebody, and I do this all the time to you
brethren, you know. If I need something, I'll call
on you. Because I know you, and I believe you love me, and you
answer. You pick up the phone. Everybody's
got caller ID now. It's a good thing, and it's a
bad thing. Right? Because you know, you
know who's calling. And so you call somebody, you
know they've got to come right to you. If they pick up the phone, they must want to talk to you. Huh? David said, I'm going to
call on the Lord all my days. Wow. He keeps hearing them. We
all love that Psalm 107, don't we? Don't you love it? He said, they got down. They
got themselves in a hole again. And they cried unto the Lord.
What did the Lord do? He saved them. He heard them. Oh, they'll
never get like that again. Huh. Shoot. It didn't take long at all. And
it keeps saying that, doesn't it, Sherry? All the way through
there. Then they cried again. And what did He do? He heard
them again. Why? He's gracious. He's merciful. That's what He
is and delights to do. Prove that He loves you. He keeps
answering. I believe the Lord heard me when
I called back as that 21-year-old rebel, prodigal, But I believe
He broke me and I cried for mercy. I believe He heard me. I really
did. Well, right now, my math is like thirty-five, four years
later, no, yeah, thirty-four years later, I feel worse. I feel worse than I did at twenty-one. But he's still here, isn't he? Isn't that amazing? Because
that's who he is. That's who He is. A son is a
son if he's in prison or if he's sitting by your side, isn't he?
Such is the love of a father. Now, David said, death and hell. Verse 3, sorrows of death, compassions
and pains of hell got hold on me, and I found trouble and sorrow. No doubt are the very words of
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who was made sin for His people,
who endured death. He let death take Him, encompass
Him. Hell. He went through hell. Yes, he did. He didn't go to
hell. No, no, no. The Lord didn't go
to that place, no. And preach to people like they
misconstrued what Peter wrote. No, no, no. But he went through
hell on Calvary's tree, which is separation from God. When
he cried out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? That
right there is hell. Hell. He went through that. He
endured that for his people. And no doubt, these are the words
of our Lord Himself. But we're looking at this as
Sinners crying unto the Lord Jesus Christ, looking unto Him
who endured death for us. And every one of God's elect
are faced with these two things. The sorrows of death encompassed
me. The pains of hell got hold of
me. And that's when he cried unto
the Lord. What Lord? The Lord Jesus Christ. looked
unto him, the pains of hell, the sorrows of death. Salvation is for those who are
dead in trespasses and sins. Gabe and I were talking about
this one day. Talking about Lazarus, you know.
Lazarus is such a good picture. You who were dead in trespass
and sin, hath He quickly called you by His grace. You know what
they said about Lazarus? And Gabe brought this out. They
said, after four days, he's stinking. Is he dead? This is not a doctrine. Depravity. He stinketh. Yes, he's dead. He stinketh. He's dead, all right. And you know, when the Lord brings
a person to this, when he's going to give him life, that's the
first thing he thinks about himself. I stink. He begins to smell himself for
the first time. Like Psalm 38. Psalm 38. Joseph, you brought that in to
read to me that day. My loins are filled with a loathsome
disease. My wounds, they stink. The Lord brings every one of
His people to that point, to where they loathe themselves. Death encompassed me. I was dead
in trespasses and sin. Hell got a hold of me. The pains of hell. What does
that mean? I'm going to go to hell. I'm going to get what I
deserve. The Lord is going to put me in
hell. Been there? Are you still there
at times? The Lord is going to put me in
hell. When I worked on the railroad, I was talking to a fellow about
the gospel, and he said to me, and I was talking about the Lord's
mercy to sinners, hell-deserving sinners. He said to me, he said,
oh, I know if I died today, I'd go to hell. I said, no you don't. You don't
believe that. If you did, you'd drop to your
knees right now. If you really believe that. People say that. God's people
experience that. They go through that. If He gives
me what I deserve, I'm going to split hell wide open. Huh? Pains of hell. Found me. Trouble
and sorrow. Trouble over what? We go through
trouble. We're born to trouble. Sorrow,
yes. What's the source of all our
trouble? The source of all our sorrow?
Sin. Sin is everything for me. Sin. That's the source. He delivers
our soul from death to sin. He delivers our soul from being
destroyed because of sin. He delivers our eyes from tears
over sin. There won't be any more sorrow
in heaven. There won't be any more tears in heaven. Why? God's
going to wipe away all tears. Why? He put away sin. There's
not going to be any sin there. Not to bother us anymore. No
guilt. No sorrow. No remembrance of
sin. No record. No guilt, no shame, just joy,
pure, unbridled joy, rejoicing with joy unspeakable. Why? In
Him who loved us and did what? Washed us from our sins. This is what salvation is all
about. Why do we keep saying this? What are we going to preach? the forgiveness of sins, the
putting away of sins through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
the good news. Christ came into the world to
do what? Save sinners. Oh, He did. He's the one who
did it. He delivered me. And you know, once the Lord enlightens
a sinner, the old preachers used to talk about enlightened sinners,
didn't they? enlightened sinners. That is,
their eyes are open. Their understanding that was
darkened is lightened. They see clearly now. See themselves. See the world for what it is.
See God. See God in everything. I'm reading
some comments on this gay marriage thing that New York, you know, put in the law. Some comments.
I just wanted to read what people were saying about it. One fellow
said to another religious fellow, prove this God that you're talking
about who hates homosexuality, prove Him. God doesn't prove Himself to
anybody. He reveals Himself. To whom He will. He'll prove
Himself to proud sinners. Oh, no. He reveals Himself to
poor, wretched sinners. And their eyes are open. They
see clearly. I see that. Prove, God! Prove that He's not. Show me
somebody that can prove He's not! That's what Paul said. Bring the wise men! Bring them
on! Where is it? I'll show you His absolute foolishness. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day, at earth's feet,
night knowledge. For all that excuse, the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness of sin.
Fooling? You fool! Only a fool has said
there is no God. I see clearly. Do you see clearly?
Have your eyes open. Clearly, God is. God is. God has delivered my soul from
death. Death is all around us. The whole
creation groaneth because of it. We're born in it. We're in bondage to it. We have
all our lifetime fear of it. We face it everywhere. Everywhere. No getting away from
it. The world avoids it. The world
does not talk about it. But when God opens the eyes of
a believer, of a sinner, they face it. They talk about it. And they're free from it. They're free from it. Isabel,
I'm happy. I'm really happy. I'm not mad. I'm just hollering. Preachers
do that every now and then. Death. Death. No getting away from it,
is it? It's all around us. Everything and everyone we love
dies. But I hear another person crying
in the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul cried out. He
was facing his death. He said, I'm ready to die. He
said, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin, that is, feeling that you're going to hell because
of your sin, is the law. But thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory. How? Through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Christ said, He that liveth and
believeth in Me shall never die. We're talking about the One who
delivers us, our souls, from death. He changed the name death
to sleep. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saint. He calls it sleep. He giveth
His beloved sleep. They don't die. They fall asleep
in His arms. in His arm. And they're gathered
into His bosom. Every one of them. It's not a
terrible thing. It's a wonderful thing. He delivered
our soul from death and our eyes from tears because of death,
because of sin, and because of loss. But everything lost will
be... We'll get it all back. In Adam,
we lost it all. What do we lose? Oh, in Christ. Unsearchable riches. Unsearchable
riches. And our feet from falling, He
will not suffer thy foot to be moved. Prone to wander, and He lets
us for a little bit, and He turns us. Put our feet in paths of
righteousness for His great name's sake. Deliver our feet And he
says here, oh I love this, the Lord preserves the simple. The Lord saves the simple. That's who He has preserved for
Himself. That's who He has saved for Himself. The simple. That's
a good, oh what a verse. Give me another hour please.
Nah, just kidding. The word simple means silly.
Foolish. Easily seduced. That sounds like little children,
doesn't it? That's exactly what the Lord said. Little children. Let me ask you. You look out
over this world full of proud and haughty and heady and high-minded
people, filthy, don't give God any thought. Who would you say? And you look over here and here's
a poor. and contrite man that trembled at His Word. I like
that woman. Just give me some scraps. I don't
deserve any. Just some crumbs. Who are you
going to save? Little children. I love little children. Do you
love little children? I love everything about them,
if I don't have to keep them overnight. Two of them. We're really learning
about what it means to, you know, we've got two now. One's tough
enough. Two's tough. Where's Jennifer?
Three. Four. Eight, Henry. Nine. You've got to love children. How many does the Lord have?
He loves children. His whole heaven is made up of
them. Little children. Suffer the little children to
come out, for such is the kingdom of heaven. Little children, poor,
ignorant, silly, foolish, easily seduced, dependent, believing,
trusting little children. The Lord saved the simple. Oh my, isn't that wonderful?
So David says to himself, verse 7, Return unto thy rest, O my
soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Return
unto thy rest. Christ stood in that last day
and cried, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. People are looking for rest everywhere. Work all their lives to rest,
don't they? They won't find it. People in
religion looking for some rest from guilt and they won't find
it. There's one place of rest. It's in Christ. Like that dove
that Noah sent out. Right when the world, it says,
was full of water, overflowed with water, Noah turned out that
dove, opened the window, turned out that dove. And it says that
dove went everywhere looking for rest and found none. And
it said, I quote, it returned unto him. Noah's name means rest. Noah's Christ. Returned unto
him into the ark. This is where our Noah's found. Do you need rest? You're not
going to find it anywhere but where Christ is found with His
people. In the ark, all those clean and
unclean animals were found. They were all shut in. That's
safety in it. They were all shut in. They weren't
going to fall. Why? Because they were shut in. It
says, that dove came back to him in the ark, for the waters
were all over the face of the earth. She couldn't find any
place. I need to rest. I'm so tired. What am I going to do? I'm going
to go back to the ark to my Noah. And it says, he put forth his
hand and took her, laid hold of her, and pulled her into him
in the ark. He said, don't let me go again.
Don't let me out of this place. There's a flood of ungodly men
out there. A flood of iniquity. If I go
out there, I'll drown in it. Take me back. Why do you keep coming here?
Huh? Why do you keep coming here,
Stan? You're coming to Christ, aren't you? To hear about Him
who takes the unfortunate, who delivers our soul from death,
our eyes from tears. When do you ever feel quite as
confident, quite as joyful, quite as at peace as when you're hearing
the Gospel, huh? When do your tears dry up? You
come in here, and you hear about sin, and you hear about death,
and you cry, and you feel guilt, and you feel shame. If a man's
done his job, he's going to hold forth crying. You're going to
look to it, and tears are going to be gone. And that sad countenance? Enlightenment countenance. There's
a smile on your face. And you're going to walk out
of here, you're going to leap over a wall and run through a truth. Aren't you? When do you quite
feel like that? Never. But when you feel safe
and you're secure and your feet from falling. Oh, hadn't the Lord dealt bountifully
with us. Can you say, I love the Lord? Can you now say that? Oh, I love
the Lord. Because. Because. Alright, let's
sing in closing one we usually sing in the beginning. Hymn number
one. Oh, worship the King. It goes
so well with it because it talks about His bountiful care, what
tongue can recite. Oh, it breathes in the air, it
shines in the light. His mercies, how tender, how
firm to the end. Our Maker, Defender, Deliverer,
Redeemer, and Friend.