It's a privilege to preach. Let's
read a few verses of this 116th Psalm, and I'm going to try to
make a few comments on them. I love the Lord, because he hath
heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his
ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death can pass
me, and the pains of hell can hold upon me. I found trouble
and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord. O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver
my soul. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous,
yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the sinful.
I was brought low, and He helped me. 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. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. 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? I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord." I want to use for a subject
tonight that verse twelve. What shall I render unto the
Lord? for all His benefits toward me. What shall I render unto the
Lord? What shall I render? What shall I return to Him? What
shall I give Him? You know, He said, the Scriptures
tell us not to render evil for evil, but good for evil. And here God gives us so many
benefits, and David says, when all the benefits that you've
given, All the wonderful things that you've given, what in the
world can I do to render back unto you? What can I do to give
you? What is it that I could possibly
give to you? But every believer, I honestly
think this is true, every believer in his heart, in his soul, feels
that infinite indebtedness to the Lord Jesus Christ, to God
for the grace that God's given him and shown to him in his lifetime. All the blessings of God, the
grace of God, that God loved us before we were, chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. And every day we
get up and His mercies are new every morning. We go to bed at
night, we can go to bed with some comfort and peace, and if
we don't wake up, we'll wake up to be with the Lord. So it's
in our heart, it's in our heart to bless Him and to praise Him
and to thank Him and feel this great Gratitude and debt to Him
for His grace. Now, look over in Psalm 40 with
me just a moment. Look at this verse. I know we've seen it many times,
but this is what I'm talking about. And you know, when we
look at this here, it's a deeply personal consideration. What
shall I render? You know, every one of us could
ask that. When you read this psalm, what
shall I render, Lord? What shall I give to You? And
he read that fourth chapter of Revelations and everything there
in heaven. And crystal, he said, that glass,
that sea of glass, they're just like crystal. Crystal's expensive. Crystal is precious. Crystal
costs lots of money, real crystal does. And he said, that is just
like crystal. And he said, all them beasts,
that calf and that gentleness of a calf, that Fierceness of
a lion, that man with his face, and that one with his wings,
and all those, all that one beast, all together, they just shouted,
hallelujah, and hallelujah, holy, holy is the Lord, unto Him. Unto
Him every creature render glory, and honor, and praise, and due. It's all due unto Him who hath
created all things. So even in heaven, there's still
rendering. thanksgiving unto God, still
rendering to God all of His glory and the benefits that they have
for Him. But look what He said here in
Psalm 40 and verse 5. Many, O Lord my God, are Thy
wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which
are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order, and if I would declare and speak of them, there more
than can be done. So what David says, what shall
I render? What shall I render? And I tell you what, what shall
we render? What shall we render? Let's talk about his benefit
for a few minutes, and then I'll talk about the thanks we give
him. What are some of the benefits,
God, just in this particular song? What are some of his benefits? David said in verse 1, I love
the Lord because he hath heard my voice. in my supplications. And because He hath heard my
voice in my supplications, He inclined His ear unto me." See,
God, this is one of the most blessed benefits that God gives
us, is a listening ear, an inclined ear, that He listens to us. You think for a moment that you
would pray if you didn't believe God heard you? Would you call
on the Lord if you didn't believe He's listening? You know, you think about that.
Mary says to me all the time, she says, Are you listening?
Are you listening? And I have to tell her back what she just
said so she'll know that I was listening. But God actually hears
us. He listens to us. He hears what
we want to say. He hears what we have to say.
He hears our thanksgiving. He hears our requests. He hears
our supplications. He hears our thanksgiving. He
has heard my voice. And I say, well, when He said
He heard my voice, He's talking about like you and me. He hears
our voice. And sometimes we don't even put
a voice to it. It's just from our hearts, the
voice from our hearts. And He says He hears our voice. He hears our verses. And He hears. And the Scripture says He inclined
His ear unto me. That means that He bent down
to hear. Have you ever had to get up real
close to somebody? To hear what they have to say
because their voice was real weak, or they was hard of hearing,
and you had to get down real close to hear what they're saying,
what they're trying to say to you, and trying to hear what
they say. God said, I'm listening to you so well, so interested
in what you're saying, so interested in your prayers, and in your
supplication, I'm going to bend my ear down so I can hear you
real good. That's a benefit. And He listens. Let me tell you
something else. Not only does He listen, but He listens with
compassion. He listens with healing. He listens
with care. He listens with concern. And
I'll tell you something else about Him. He has the ability
to do something about what we call on Him for. He listens to
us, and then He has the ability to do what we request. He has the ability to do something
for us. And then let me show you another benefit he has towards
us in verse 3. He says, the songs of death have
compassed me about. And down in verse 8, it says,
For thy has delivered my soul from death. Not only did he cloud
his ear, but he delivered us from death. That word delivered
from death means saved from death. Saved from death. Saved from
so great a death. Paul called it so great a day,
this death of sin, this death because of our depravity, this
death because of our sin, this death because our sins were so
great. Look over in 2 Corinthians 1,
just a moment. And I tell you, God delivered
us from death. And James was reading tonight
in that, for by one man sinned in this
world, and death by sin. And death passed for all men,
for that all have sinned. But then there was another man
that came into this world. And so by one man's sin, we all
became sinners. And by one man's obedience, we
all became righteous. As one man's act of sin, we all
became sinners. By one man's act of righteousness
and obedience, we all became righteous and obedient. And so,
what a great deliverance from death. But here in 2 Corinthians
1, in verse 9, look what he says, But we have the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in
God, which raises the dead. Let me almost say something on
this right here. It's been a long time since I
wondered whether I knew the Lord or not, but I've had some thoughts
about it here lately. But I do know this, that when
a man writes a sentence in himself that he does not trust in himself,
I believe that's a man who knows Christ when he ceases to trust
in himself. Just quit trusting in himself
in any way. And which reason? Who delivered
us? Now listen to this. Who delivered us from so great
a death? And that's what David said, he
delivered me from death. And it was a great death because
we sinned so greatly. It was a great death because
it was an eternal death. And it was a great death because
there was no one to help us and save us from this death. In ourselves
or nobody else, except God Himself. And look what He said, who has
delivered us from so great a death. And listen to this, and bless
His name, who does now deliver us, right now save us. And whom
He trusts that we trust, He will yet save us. He has, He is, and
He will. And that's why David said, it's
a great death. We were dead in trespasses and
sin. But one day, one blessed day,
God came by where you and I were. And He said, Lazarus! He said,
James! He said, Bruce! Come forth! And by His blessed grace and
power, we came forth. And as the girl sang, we came
forth and we followed Him. Him. And now when we sing, Have
Thine Own Way, it's not just a song, it's the prayer of hearts,
the thanksgiving of our soul. Oh, my. That's why, beloved,
and it was a great death because our enemies were great, and there's
only one who can help us. And that's why David said, he
said, For Thou hast delivered my soul from death. My soul from
death. Not the body, the soul. This
body's going to the dust, but his soul ain't going to. His
soul ain't going to be with him. And then he'll give us a new
body to go with it. Oh, so listen, one of these benefits is this
inclined ear. Listen here. Delivers from death. And then look here how he gives
us such bounty. Such bountiful treatment. Look
in verse 7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Bountiful. You know, people, there's a lot
of people that's bounty hunters now. They go out looking for
bounty. Somebody has a certain price on their head, and if they
can get them and bring them in, they get the bounty. They get
the amount of money. And both are out here trying
their best to get as much bounty as they can. Well, God's got
so much bounty to give us, and we don't have to go nowhere to
get it. He just gives it to us. Bountiful! Bountiful, dealt bountifully
with us. How much grace has He given us?
How much mercy has He given us? How far does His love extend? How far does His strength extend? He dealt with us, our souls,
in grace and mercy, and yet He done it righteously. Look what
He said in verse 5. Gracious is the Lord and righteous.
Yea, our God is merciful. So you see, beloved, He dealt
in bounty for all of us. I've said this before probably,
I don't know how many times, but old John Bunyan used to say,
God's got bags of mercy never yet broken upon. Grace upon grace. He said, Christ is full of grace
and truth, and we have received grace for grace. God gives us
grace, and then He gives us grace for the grace. We'll ask for
grace, and He gives us more grace. It's just like the waves of the
sea coming up on the seashore, coming up on the tide coming
in. Grace and grace and grace and
grace. He just keeps giving it to us.
Look into Luke 15 just a moment. Here's what I'm talking about.
This is how God deals with us and how bountiful He deals with
us. Luke 15. You all know the story of the
prodigal son. That's why, you know, Paul says, abound towards you and Jesus
Christ and according to the riches of His grace and the riches of
His glory shall abound in grace towards you through Christ. But
look what happened here in verse 22. First Luke 15 to know the
story of the prodigal son. Father said to the servants,
bring forth the best robe. Put it on him. Give it to him,
let him put it on himself. No, that's what free will says.
Oh, God gave you the robe, but you got to put it on. And God
gave it to you, you can take it back off. No, that's not what
it says here. There ain't no place like that. And he says,
bring forth the best robe and put it on him. Now that's boundary. Then look what he says, and then
bring up and put a ring on his hand. And I want shoes on his
feet. Slaves go without shoes. Poor
people go without shoes. He said, I want shoes on his
feet, and I want the best shoes in the house on his feet. And
look what else he said, bring the fatted calf. Get that one
out of the stall we've been preparing for a great feast, that big old
fatted calf. I mean, he got that, he got,
oh, he got the best steaks on it. He said, kill that fatted
calf and bring it here, and let's eat and be merry. And that's
what we're talking about. God hath dealt with us bountifully. Bountifully. Look what else he
did over here. In verse 16. Look back over in our
text. In Psalms 116, verse 16. Oh, that's what else he said
here. Verse 16. Oh Lord, truly I am thy servant,
I am thy servant. Listen to this now. The Son of
God had me, and thou hast loosed my bonds. He has set us free. Set us free. Thou hast loosed
my bonds. Bound up. Bound up in sin. He broke the bonds of that. Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. We're no longer
under law, but under grace. God has taught our hearts the
grace of God. We were bound in sin, and He
loosed the bonds of sin. And I'll tell you, one of the
most glorious bonds that God broke for me was the bonds of
legalism. The bonds of legalism, the bonds
of religion, when I was trying to go about to establish my own
righteousness. going about to establish myself
before God on my own righteousness. Legalism, had to dress a certain
way, had to do certain things. And all the legalism and how
it tells you bondage, that you had to talk a certain way and
do a certain thing and do so many things, and you held other
people to the high standard that you yourself couldn't listen
and live up to. And Paul says, God, he said,
Be not entangled again with that yoke of bondage, but stand fast
and deliberately wherewith Christ has set you free. And that's
why I'm never going back under law. There's nobody gonna set
no rules for me, no standards for me, no dress codes for me,
no rules, nobody but God gonna set how I'm to live in this world.
And I'm not gonna set it for you. I'm not going to tell you
how to dress. I'm not going to tell you how
to pray. I'm not going to tell you how to read. I'm not going
to tell you where you can go. I'm not going to tell you where
you can't go. I'm not going to tell you that God can't take
care of you. I certainly ain't going to put
you in bondage and make you do things the way I think they ought
to be done. Do you all agree with that? That the Holy Ghost
is our teacher. The Holy Ghost is the one who
restrains us. The Holy Ghost. And thank God
for the salvation free from legalism. There are so many... I don't
understand how people who believe in the grace of God can also
turn around and say that the law is our rule of life. What
was Abraham's rule of life before the law was given? What did Abraham
live by? Every place you find Abraham
missed in the Scripture, he lived by faith. There was no ten commandments
as a rule of life or anything else for Enoch. And the Scripture
said, Enoch walked with God. And God was able to take care
of them. You know the worst thing that
a soul can do. If righteousness comes by the
law, by our doing, then Christ is dead in vain. And Paul said,
I do not frustrate the grace of God. And our people, the people
are welcome to go where they, you know, man, if he wants to
live in bondage, he's welcome to it. If he wants some preacher
to tell him what he can do and what he can't do, he's welcome
to it. I know preachers, and I've heard
of people that even tell folks what kind of dogs they ought
to have and whether they should have one or not. Talk to your wife. Talk to your
wife. She's not dressing the way she ought to dress. Talk
to your children. Them children ain't acting right.
If you don't get them children under control, I'm gonna deal
with you. I tell you what, I'm not going
that route. I've been there. I've done been
there. I'm not going back. God set me free from that. I
mean, He set me free from that legalism. Ain't you grateful
He did, Gary? And then He set us free from
the bonds of tradition. Tradition. Oh, we did what we
did just because everybody else always did it. Had alters because
everybody else had alters. Had flaws because everybody else
had alters. We just did what we did. That's
what everybody else did. Women sit over here, men over
there. That's what they've always done. God has to save us from
our traditions. And God bless His holy name.
He set us free from the bonding of this world. and his opinions. We don't care what this world
thinks. We don't care what this world does. We don't care. God forbid that we glory except
only in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, beloved,
we've become bond slaves. We've set us free. He set us
free, released us from our bonds. And now we're bond slaves to
our Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what we're free
to do now? We're free to worship Him free to serve Him, free to
honor Him, free to call upon Him, and free to come with liberty
and boldness unto the throne of grace. And I, Lord Jesus said,
whom the Son sets free, how free is He? Free indeed. Free indeed. Now, there's some benefits. Let's see what shall we render
unto Him. What shall we render unto Him?
Look in verse 1. I love the Lord. I will love Him. I will love Him. Oh, how I love Jesus. I mean
that, and I know you do, too. Simon Peter, do you love me?
Yes, Lord. Do you love me? Yes, Lord. Simon,
do you really love me? Oh, Lord, thou knowest. And David
said, I love the Lord. I love the Lord. Why do we love
Him? Because He first loved me. We
sing that song, How can it be, how can it be, that thou, my
God, should die for me? How can it be? Oh, my. Greater love does this hath no
man that he lay down his life for his friends. And that the
great love were with thee, loved us, and he put it in our... And
the love of God now, the love that we have for Him, He gave
it to us. He gave it to us. I cannot give
love and put it in somebody else's heart. I can have love toward
them, but I can't put it in their heart for me. But God can take
people like us, and He can take His love and put the shed of
raw His love in our hearts and turn around and give us a love
for Him. He caused us to love Him. He loved us so much that He took
our heart and gave us a heart and turned it toward Him to love
Him. And then not only will I love Him, but look what it said here
in verse 2. Because He hath climbed up His
ear unto me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I will. I will call upon Him. I will
call upon Him. Since He heard me, I'm going
to keep on calling. And how long are you going to call on the
Lord? As long as I live. I have to do it. I can't help
but do it. Can you not help but call on
the Lord? Huh? You just have to do it. You can't help it. You've just
got to call on the Lord. And David said, I'll call upon
Him. And I'll tell you something, prayer doesn't change God. And it doesn't change God's God's
dealings with us, or me or you. What prayer does, it changes
us. It conforms us to His will. Is that not right? You know,
prayer ain't gonna change Him. It changes me. It makes me to
bow down to Him. It changes me to His will. It
changed me and makes me different. And that's why He said, you know,
and let me show you this over. I think it's 1 Corinthians 1,
verse 2. I think it's what I want to look
at. Did you know when the Lord told Anna and I, He said, you
go down to the street called Straight. Go down there. He said,
there's a fellow down there praying. Saul of Tarsus is down there
praying. And Ananias said to him, he said, Lord, he said,
he's a mean man. I've heard all the evil he's
done for you. And he says, you go down there, for behold, he's
praying. Paul had been a Pharisee, and
he went up to the prayers and had went to the temple and done
all the rituals. But he had never prayed in his
life until the Lord said, behold, he's praying. And when Noah and
Ananias heard the holy prayer, he's calling on the Lord. He
said, I'll go. If a man's calling on the Lord,
you don't have to worry about it. He's going to be alright.
He ain't going to hurt you no way. Look what it said here in
1 Corinthians 1-2. unto the church of God which
is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, call
to be saints, with all that in every place, call upon the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours." People call
on the name of the Lord every day. Oh, my. And I'll tell you,
beloved, that's why they said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You've
got the words of eternal life. I'm going to call on Him. Call
on Him, and call on Him, and call on Him, and call on Him,
and call on Him, and call on Him, and call on Him. David said,
as long as I live, I'm going to call on Him. And then look
what else. Here's some of the benefits.
This is what we'll render unto Him. What we'll do, we'll call
on Him, we'll love Him, and then we'll rest in Him. Look there
in verse 7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. I'll rest in Him. That's what we'll render unto
Him. Love. Prayer calling on Him, and resting in Him. Return unto your rest, that remaineth
the rest of the people of God. Christ is our Sabbath. Christ
is the end of the law. Everything that we need we find
in Christ. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
come unto Me, and you'll find rest for your soul, and come
unto Me, and I'll give you rest for your soul. You'll find it,
and I'll give it. And all rest, rest, rest, rest,
rest. There's nothing like the rest
that our souls have in Christ. Augustine said this, Lord, our
souls were made for Thee, and they find no rest till they find
their rest in Thee. And boy, when our souls find
rest in Him, they find rest in Him. I mean, it's easy. It's peaceful. And you know when
you rest, The only time you'll rest is when you're tired. When
you're tired. And when you get tired of sin,
you get tired of self-righteousness, you get tired of your tradition
and your legalism, get tired of working your way to heaven.
When you get tired of worry and fear and the world and self and
doubts and all that's in it, that's when you'll go to rest.
When you ain't got no place else to go, you'll go to Him for rest.
That's what we do, don't we, Mary? We go to Him for rest.
He's our rest. We can rest over whatever's happening.
We can rest. Well, I'll see how you all can
take that. Oh yeah, we rest in Christ. People been doing it
for centuries. You know, Peter was in jail,
chained to a guard. He laid down with sleep. The
angel had to wake him up. You know why? Come what may,
live or die, I'm going to be with Christ. And always find
rest in Him. Rest in Him. Cast your cares
upon Him, for He cares for you. And then look what it says in
verse nine. This is what we render unto Him. Nothing tangible. Something that gives Him the
glory, something that gives Him the honor. And then in verse
nine it says, I'll walk with Him. I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living. I'll walk with Him. He needs
to walk with the Lord. And how do we walk with Him?
We walk by faith, not by sight. We don't see now that we walk
by faith. God told Abraham, He said, walk
down before me and be that person. Now how can he walk before Him
and be that person? Be upright in heart and test all your cares
on me. Look to me for everything that
you need. And I tell you, walking with Him, walking with Him is
something that men have been doing, and people think walking
with God is living a certain kind of life, a dedicated life,
and a devoted life, and all these kind of self-eccentricism and
all this self-denial, therefore you can walk with God. But we
walk with God by faith. That's how you walk with God.
And I'll tell you something, we're conscious of His presence.
We're conscious of the Lord Jesus Christ's presence. We're conscious
of His eye being on us. We're conscious of His care on
us. And all to have the Lord Jesus Christ as our constant
companion. When the scripture says, I'll
never leave you and I'll never forsake you. Peggy told me that
on the phone yesterday. She said, Brother Donovan, this
thing that helps me is Christ said, I'll never leave you and
I'll never forsake you. And He never has. He's always been there for me.
Let your conversation manner of life be without covetous.
Why? Because He has said, He has said,
He has said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you.
Therefore, I will not fear what men shall do for me. And I tell
you, beloved, we walk with Him. Walk with Him. I tell you, walk
with Him in your automobile. You can walk with Him sitting
on your porch. You can walk with Him sitting in the service. You
can walk with Him in your bed at night. You can walk with Him
while you're washing your dishes. You can walk with Him sitting
at your desk. Oh, bless His holy name. And
I tell you what, and I tell you, brother, hurry up and make another
one here. That's why we're in there, just walking with Him,
loving Him, resting in Him, calling on Him. Oh, my, people say, well,
what can I give the Lord? Reach in their pocket like that. No. I own the cattle on a thousand
hills. And he said, I'll tell you what
else we'll do. Look what it says here in verse
10. I believe, therefore have I spoken. You know what we'll
do? We'll speak what we believe.
We'll tell what we believe. Not what we think people think
we ought to believe, what people, other people believe. But he
says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to tell just
what I believe. What I believe, that's what I'm going to talk
about. That's what I'm going to tell. He said, I believed,
therefore have I spoken. Well, why do you speak, David?
The truth? Spoken of the glory of God? Oh
my, I'll speak. That's why he said, I'll not
be ashamed of him, and I'll not be ashamed of his word. Paul
told Timothy, don't you be ashamed of me, Timothy, nor of me, the
prisoner of the Lord. He said, I'm not ashamed. I'm
not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of my bonds.
I'm not ashamed of whatever's happened to me in this world.
I'm not ashamed. And I'll tell you what, as David said, I'll
speak what I believe. Paul said the same thing in 2
Corinthians. I'll speak of Christ's glorious person. Oh, what a glorious
person He is, walking in His majesty, walking in His glory,
walking in His holiness, walking in His righteousness. I'll speak
of His accomplished work. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He came
to this world and He said, Father, I finished the work that you
gave me to do. Now give me the glory which I
had with you before the world was. I come here to do a work,
and beloved, He accomplished the work He has sent here to
do. He accomplished the will of God. He accomplished and fulfilled
the Word of God. He accomplished the salvation
of His blessed people. And I'll speak of His definite
atonement. And what I mean by that, beloved,
Christ was not gambling for souls when He went to the cross. He
went there knowing exactly who He was dying for, and He paid
the price for all whom He died for, and He made atonement for
all whom He died for, and all whom He died for will be in glory,
because the blood of Christ has all power and glory in it. I tell you, and I'll speak of
His electing grace. Oh, bless God for electing you. Oh, thank God for electing grace. Would you have chosen God if
God hadn't chosen you? It ain't like they said that the
devil made, you know, he's made a, you know, the devil's made
a column and God's made one. You choose. No. No, no. I tell you, God's elected us.
You find that you can elect, elect according to the foreknowledge
of Christ. Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. I'll speak of His electing grace.
People say, you think you're the only one saved. No, I'm not. All of God's elect are. And the
ones that ain't saved now will be. Next time somebody asks you
that, tell them, say, yes. Say, oh, all of God's, I'm talking
about this only one, all of God's elect are saved, and they all
are going to be saved. They said, well, you think the
Lord is going to be saved? I said, yep. If you're one of
them, you'll be saved. And you know, I just honored
them right there. And all humble speak of his glorious
resurrection. They put him in that tomb. Said,
boy, we're done with him. But boy, they run down there
at that tomb and said, two angels sitting there, why in the world
are you seeking the living among the dead? He is risen. He's not here. No, He went back to glory. And I'm going to speak of His
blessed ascension. He ascended back up to where
He come from, to God's right hand. And right there, He's got
all power and authority vested in Him. And then it makes intercession
for you and me. And I'll tell you what, we'll
talk of His glory is coming again. He's coming again. And you know
it ain't going to be as long as it has been. He is coming
again. And He'll come, and He'll gather
one of these days, He's going to gather all His people. And
we're all going to gather up, and we're all going to go up
at the same time to ever be with the Lord. And then, look, while
I'm going to finish this, see, everything that we talk about,
we ain't done nothing to get. It's something that's spiritual. It's
something that's not tangible. It's something that's from the
heart, from the soul, from the spirit. And then let me show
you the last thing. Well, two things. But He said,
I'll take from you. Look in verse 13. I will take
the cup of salvation. I'll take it. You know why we
take it? Because He gives it. And it's a cup. It's a cup. Not just a sip. He gives us a
cup of salvation to drink at. How many years have we been drinking
from the same cup? It's as full as it was the day
we took the first drink. He has a cup of salvation. He
took a cup of wrath that we can have the cup of salvation. Oh,
my. He doesn't owe us this cup. He
isn't paying us. He gives it fully, and He gives
it fully. It's a cup of salvation, full
of grace, full of mercy, full of righteousness, justification,
sanctification, glorification. And the more we take, the more
He gives, grace for grace. And then look here in verse 17. Oh, these are the things that
we render unto Him. You see, and then He said, I will offer
to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. God says that our thanksgiving,
He considers it a sacrifice. That astounds me, that He says,
Hosea called it the calves of our limbs. Paul says, you know,
we offer spiritual sacrifices through Him. And we offer the
sacrifices, and God says that our sacrifices, our thanksgiving,
He considers them sacrifices. Would you consider it a sacrifice
to say somebody's done something for you and say, well, thank
you? That's just good manners. But God says, when you really
turn around and give thanks to me, Give thanks to Me from your
heart, from your soul, for who I am. For who I am. We give thanks first and foremost
for who He is. Not for just what He's done for
us, but for who He is. He cannot change. Ain't you thankful
that He is who He is? Holy and glorious and righteous?
Gracious and full of mercy and compassion? And so He says when
we come with thanksgiving, He said, you're bringing a sacrifice.
You're bringing a sacrifice. A sacrifice, just giving thanks. Now that is, that's, God said,
when you offer thanks, He said, you're giving me a sacrifice.
And you're giving a sacrifice through Jesus Christ. Now, that's
the only sacrifice we can give that God will accept. It's our Thanksgiving. That's
the only one He'll accept. And we can only offer that to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll accept it through Christ.
Amen. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, Bless you for the day. Oh, Father,
thank you for the day. Lord, we thank you for your wondrous
grace, wondrous love, wondrous power. The gospel that's so full
and free and comforts us and assures us and liberates our
very heart and soul, that brings light to us, brings strength
to us, brings help to us, brings hope to us. And Father, I thank
you for these saints of God. And I thank you for those who
are not with us, though they're sick in your providence, trusting
you to raise them back up, that they can come worship with us
again. Peggy, Marlene, Brother Gio, Lord others among us, God
strengthen them, encourage them. Have mercy upon the unconverted
in our services. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen. Amen.