The 116th Psalm, Psalm 116, opens
with these wonderful words, I love the Lord. I love the Lord because
he have heard my voice and my supplications, because he have
inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long
as I live. The sorrows of death compass
me, and the pains of hell get 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 simple. 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 believe, 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 towards me? I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord,
truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son
of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. 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, in the courts of the
Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye
the Lord. What a psalm this is. What a
tremendous cry of the psalmist from the heart. How he praises
God. And how he praises God with these
opening words which set the tone of the whole psalm. I love the
Lord. I love the Lord. Can you say
that? Can you say that from your heart? I love the Lord. Men and women love many things. We love other people. We love
our family. We love our children. We love
the fine weather. We love food and drink. We love
this activity and that activity. We love our country. We love
this, we love that. But can you say you love the
Lord? Many people have many loves. And some are quite understandable.
But do they love the Lord? By nature we don't. By nature we don't. Many may
claim to, they may pay lip service to, they may have a token idea
or a token following of religion or the Christian religion and
say, oh yes I believe in God, I love God, when their lives
go a completely different way. They live for this world, they
live for themselves, they live for their own glory. Few can say it from the heart.
By nature we don't love God. We were created in God's image
but man rebelled, man fell, man went after his own ways and his
own glory. The heart of man does not want
to bow down to a God who is sovereign. and that is the heart of the
fall. He doesn't want to bow down to a God who is sovereign,
a God who rules over him, a God who is creator and sustainer
of the whole heaven and the whole world, who has authority. Mankind by nature doesn't mind
bowing down to gods or a God who serves them. There are many
religious people and there are many religions but ultimately
at the heart of their religion is a god or gods who serve them. They do this, and God must bless
them for it. They do that, and God must honour
them for it. It's a God who responds to man. If I come before you, Lord, like
this, if I live like this, if I bring this offering, then I
expect you to do this in response. They speak of a God, but their
God is a small God, a little idol that serves man. The God
that man hates, the God that mankind rebelled against, the
God that led to the fall, is a God who rules, a God who is
sovereign, a God before whom we bow the knee. And ultimately
that's the God we hate and despise. So for all that men may say that
they follow God, or they follow Jesus Christ, or they're a Christian,
or they believe this, or they believe that, they don't love
the God that's sovereign. They love their Jesus, who they
invited into their heart. They said, come into my house,
Lord. Come and be my God. They like their Jesus who accepts
their decision to follow Him or accepts their good works that
they've decided to offer up unto Him. This is not a Jesus or a
God worthy of the name. This is not the Lord, capital
L-O-R-D. This is not Jehovah the Creator. This is a little idol of men
that they've created that they say they love because He serves
them. This is not the Lord, the God
of whom the psalmist speaks. And by nature the God of whom
the psalmist speaks, he did not serve and he did not love. When
he was born he went away from the womb, he went forth from
the womb speaking lies. He loved a God that would serve
him and he hated the God that made him, before whom he stood
guilty. Guilty of going far astray from
him, guilty of not serving him as he should, guilty of not bringing
before him his worship and his thanksgiving. He did not love
this God. But here when he comes to write
this psalm there's been a change. Here he comes as a man who now
knows this God. and who now loves this God. This is a changed man. This is
a man whose heart has been broken. This is a man who's been brought
to an end of himself. He no longer serves himself.
He no longer worships himself. He no longer worships those gods
who are subservient to himself for he's found them of nothing
worth. He's discovered what he truly is and he's discovered
his true state before Almighty God. He's discovered that he's
condemned and lost. And no Jesus of his making, no
Jesus whom he's decided to follow, no God of his making, no idol
will do him any good. And all the love he may have
for those gods is worthless. But here is a man who's come
to see that he needs to bow down before a God who can save him. Here's a man who has been brought
to see the sorrows of death. Here's a man who's been brought
to feel the pains of hell get hold of him. Here's a man who's
known what trouble and sorrow truly are. Here's a man who knows
the effect of sin, and how sin condemns a man, and how sin will
plunge a man into hell, and rightly so. Here's a man who knows how
sin has separated man from God. and how God's righteousness is
offended by sin and how God will condemn the sinner. Here's a
man who knows he's lost by nature. And here's a man who being brought
to the brink of death has called out unto God and has been hurt. Here's a man who's discovered
the grace of God. and the love of God and the mercy
of God and the salvation of God. Here's a man whose foot was slipping
and falling who God delivered. Here's a man whose soul has been
delivered from death. Here's a man whose eyes have
been wiped of their tears. Here's a man who's been brought
to stand upon a rock who's been lifted up, who's been plucked
out from the very gates of hell and been brought to walk before
the Lord in the land of the living. Here's a man who believes and
therefore he speaks. Here's a man who was greatly
afflicted and through all this experience
and through being brought before God as his Saviour and being
brought to discover the great mercy and salvation of God, can
say from the heart as one who's been delivered, as one who's
been saved, I love the Lord, because He have heard my voice
and my supplications, because He have inclined His ear unto
me, therefore will I call upon Him, as long as I live. Can you say that? Can you with
this man and with those like him say, I love the Lord because
he have heard my voice and my supplications. He heard me. I was lost. I was falling. I was without hope. And I cried
out unto the only one who could hear me, the only one who would
hear me, the only one who had any care. I cried out and he
heard. He inclined his ear unto me.
He delivered me. The sorrows of death had compassed
me. I was dying. I was lost. I was
gone. And this God saved me. I love the Lord. You'll never
be brought to say these words with any truth or any reality
unless you've been brought on the pathway of the psalmist. There are many who feign to love
God. There are many who will stand
before Christ on that last day saying, Lord, Lord, I've done
this in thy name and I've done that in thy name. I've spent
all my life in the churches, I've attended every meeting,
I've done these good works, I've led these meetings, I've led
these groups. And he will turn unto them and
say, depart from me, ye worker of iniquity, I never knew you.
You took my name upon your lips, but you never knew me and I never
knew you. You were not one of mine. You
were never brought to feel the curse of your sin. You were never
brought to feel the wrath of God against that sin. You were never brought to feel
hell, hell's gate coming up against you. You were never brought to
feel the inner depth of the depravity of your soul. You took my name,
you took my ways, you took the scriptures upon your lips. But
you never knew me truly, and I never knew you. And you could
never say with my psalmist, I love the Lord. Oh, what a place to
be in. What a place to come to stand
before God on the last day and say, Lord, Lord, to Him. When
you never really knew Him. Everything you have to say unto
Him is about yourself. Everything you come before him
with is something you've done, which he should reward. I did
this in your name, I did that in your name. As though he's
your servant. As though he's the one that is
indebted to you. The psalmist doesn't come in
that tone. They both say Lord, but he comes
with nothing. on that day when he stands before
God there'll be no I've done this in thy name and I've done
that in thy name there'll be I was lost but thou hast found
me I was blind but thou didst make me see I deserve death and
condemnation but I beg the blood of Jesus
Christ hear me Lord through his blood I have nothing to bring
but to plead upon his name the Saviour's name Christ's name
because I believe he loved me and he gave himself for me and
he heard my cry and he plucked me out of the gates of hell he
plucked me up as a beggar off a dunghill he delivered me He
heard my supplications and I love him and I love thee Lord, save
my soul. He brings nothing of his own
but only pleads the grace of God and you share with him. Has he heard your voice? Has
he heard your supplications? Have you been brought to that
place to cry out? Every true child of God will.
They know they have nothing. They know the condemnation of
God against their sin is just. But they know in the gospel,
the power of the gospel, and the grace of God flowing down
from on high. He have inclined his ear unto
me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. As long
as I journey through this world, as long as I have life here below,
I have no one else to call unto, no one else that can save me.
He's heard my voice before, he'll hear me again, I'll continue
to cry, I'll continue to call, as long as I live. As long as
he gives me breath, as long as he has his hand upon me, I'll
call unto him. I love the Lord. The sorrows
of death compass me. The pains of hell get 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. Now as we read through the psalm,
as in the rest of the psalms, we soon see the voice of Jesus
Christ. We soon see that whereas on the
one level this is the psalmist, a man, a sinner writing and his
experience as a sinner his experience as a lost sinner condemned because
of his sin but we also see in his words
prophetically the words of Jesus Christ the Saviour who stood
in the sinner's place who though whilst not a sinner himself he
stood in their place he bore the sinner's sins and he knew
what it was to feel the wrath of God against sin come down
upon him. He knew what it was to experience
death in their place that they might live. The sinner knows
what the sorrows of death are because God brings the sinner
to the brink of death to show him what he is and what he will
experience if he's left in his own sin without salvation. But
there's one that took a step further. There's a man that went
even further than they did. This one Christ, the Saviour,
of whom the psalmist speaks in prophecy, not only felt the sorrows
of death as it were from a distance, He not only stood upon the brink
of death as the sinner does, but He then took the sinner's
sin and He stepped in. He then went beyond where they
can go. the psalmist can be brought to
the very brink and feel the experience of being worthy of death but
delivered by his God but Christ himself took the psalmist's sin
and stepped, as it were, into the abyss the Lord took him and
he was nailed to a tree and the Lord laid upon him the
sins of all the elect, all his people, the Psalmist's sins,
David's sins, Saul's sins, every believer's sins, all were laid
upon Christ. and as he sorrowed upon the tree
in the darkness the wrath of God was poured down upon him
and the sorrows of death compassed him and the pains of hell got
hold upon him he found trouble and sorrow unlike any trouble
and sorrow that we can ever imagine but he in such a place could
still by faith look up as his father as it were forsake him
upon the cross and judged him as the sinner and poured down
the fires of his wrath upon him he could still look up by faith
and say I love the Lord he's heard me I'm here, I'm lost
the sorrows of death have compassed me but in the end he knew his
father would deliver him he went into the very place of death
he experienced what no one else can experience and come out of
and he knew that God would deliver him 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
preserve if the simple 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. my eyes from tears and my feet
from falling. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. As Christ hung upon the cross
in the darkness for his people, bearing their sins, bearing the
judgment of God against them feeling the bruising and beating
of his own father against himself because of the sin he bore and
the sin he was made to be as he was there in the darkness
alone with no man to help no voice of comfort as all men derided
Him, as they spat upon Him and mocked Him, as His own disciples
had gone at a distance, unable in their own strength to help,
as all were scattered, as He hung there alone and His own
Father in Heaven was turned against Him because of what He was, because
of what He was bearing, as He hung there as the outcast, He
still knew and he still believed that his God would deliver him
in the end. He knew that even as he died,
even as he suffered in the darkness, his soul would be delivered. His eyes would be washed from
their tears. His feet would no longer fall. And he would walk before the
Lord in the land of the living. He would walk before the Lord
in the land of the living. And he would not walk alone.
He knew why he suffered. He knew for whom he suffered. He knew as he hung there in the
darkness and bore the sins of his people, he knew every one
of them. He knew the names of every one for whom he suffered,
he bore their particular sins. He had their names upon his heart
and he knew he would walk before the Lord with them in the land
of the living. What a hope he had before him. What his faith looked unto as
he suffered there. Yes, he was alone. Yes, even
God the Father had turned his back upon him in that hour. But
he looked through it all to that moment when he would rise up
from the dead with that people who are one with him. with that
people who sinned and were lost and yet upon whom his love was
set. He looked through the darkness
and could see himself walking with them before the Lord in
the land of the living. Oh what a hope was set before
him. Oh, what a hope was set before the psalmist! The psalmist,
as a sinner, brought to the end of all things, brought into sorrow,
brought to see what his sin had done, could look through that
sorrow, could look through the despair, by faith to a Saviour
crucified for him, with whom he knew he would walk. walk before
the Lord in the land of the living and because he had that faith
to see the Saviour crucified for him he could say that God
had inclined his ear under him he could say I love the Lord thou hast delivered my soul from
death what a statement to say What a thing for Christ to be
able to say upon the cross, in the grave, as He rose again,
victorious as He ascends unto God on high. He can say as a
shout unto His God in praise and as a shout to be heard by
all His people throughout all time. God hath delivered my soul
from death and He has delivered in me your souls from death. I will walk before the Lord and
you will walk with me before the Lord. I believed and therefore
have I spoken. What brought Christ through the
abyss? What brought him through the
darkness? What brought him through the
valley of death to come out the other side alive? His faith in
God above, I believed. When I was lost, when I was in
the sorrows of hell, when the pains of hell had got hold upon
me upon the cross, when I was all alone, I believed. that what was covenanted with
my Father from before the very foundations of the earth would
be brought to pass. I would be with my own. Every one for whom I suffered
would rise again with me. We will walk before the Lord. And this is why I've spoken.
I believed it before I came into the world and I spake it by the
prophets. I believed it when I came into
the world and I spake it through my own lips. I went forth in
Galilee believing what God would do through my death and I preached
it unto sinners. I said I am the Son of God, the
Son of Man and the Son of Man must be delivered up unto death. The temple will be brought down
and I will rebuild it in three days. I must suffer for sin. I believed it and I spake. I
believed therefore have I spoken. I preached it even though the
scribes and the Pharisees and all men spat upon me and rejected
me and would have stoned me. I believed it and I spake it
even though I knew that by believing this and speaking it I would
be slain. I believed it and I spake it
even though I knew the price of believing this gospel, this
truth was my death. I believe therefore have I spoken.
O believer, If you can say, I love the Lord. If you can say, I've
heard his gospel. If you can say, that's the gospel
that saved me. If you can say, you believe this
gospel. Has God put that faith in your
heart to say, I believe, therefore I've spoken. I will declare Christ's
name in this generation, knowing that the reaction to my message
will be the same reaction that he had. Knowing that if I preach
him boldly and faithfully to this day and generation that
people will hate me for it. Knowing that I may taste death
for it. Knowing that they may make me
a martyr. Knowing that they, like others
in history, may take me and persecute me and if they could they'd slay
me. Nevertheless, I love the Lord. He's heard my cries. He's inclined his ear unto me.
I believed and therefore I speak. I can do nothing else. Put me
to death if you will, this is the truth. Put me to death if
you will, this is the only message that can save me and the only
message that can save you. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are
liars. And we are by nature. We are. I was born a liar. You're born
liars. You say this isn't true. You
say this message is a lie. You say the gospel's nonsense.
You say the gospel's a myth. You're a liar. You're taken up
by lies. I said the same once. But I know
the truth. I know that God sent his son. I know his son perished. I know
that his son died upon the cross for sinners. And I know he rose
again for me. I know He rose again for all
for whom He suffered. I know it because I've heard
His voice. He believed and He spake to me. And I believe and I'm speaking
to you. All men by nature are liars,
but this man, Jesus Christ, is no liar. What He spake, What
He spake unto my soul, what He spake by His Gospel, what He
spake from heaven on high by His Spirit unto me was the truth
and it made me live. And I will say the same unto
you, though you may stone me like they stoned Stephen, though
you may put me on a cross, though you may burn me like they burned
Latimer. You can do what you like but
this is what saves me and it's the only thing that will save
you. I said in my haste all men are
liars. But any who come to know these
things speak the truth. They were once liars but no more. And the man that said these things
unto me, the man Christ Jesus, the man who took my sins and
suffered in my place, is no liar. He's no liar, he's the very truth
itself. He speaks the truth, he is truth. There's no truth outside of him. If you want to know truth, you
need to hear and to know Jesus Christ. I believed. Therefore have I spoken. I was greatly afflicted, but
He delivered me. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all His benefits toward me? O what He's done for me! Oh what grace and love he's shown
unto me. I love the Lord because he have
heard my voice and my supplications. What can I give him in return? What can I give unto a God that
loved me and gave himself for me? unto a Saviour who loved
me and gave Himself for me. I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will take the cup of
salvation, I'll take the cup of wine, I'll take the cup that
Jesus gives unto me. Take, drink, this is the new
testament in my blood I'll take that cup I'll drink it and I'll
praise his name I'll bless God for that blood that washed me
clean and I'll know as I drink that cup which is but a remembrance
that when he took a cup and when he drank the cup of salvation
in my stead he drank the wrath of God for my sins. The cup that he drank caused
him to die in my place. The cup that he drank was a cup
of fury. The cup of the fires of God's
wrath. I could have never drunk from
that cup. One drop would have destroyed
me. but he drank all that was in
that cup for all his people for all time and because he drank
from that cup and drank it to the very dregs I am saved and
everyone who speaks in his name is saved too everyone who's heard
his voice and believes and speaks was saved because of that cup
of salvation what can I do? for him I can't do anything but
I will speak I will remember everything he has done I will
take the cup of salvation I will remember his blood and I will
speak of his blood and I will call upon the name of the Lord
I will cry out under him I will believe O believer, do you know
this? Do you know the depth of feeling
that the psalmist has? Does it fill your heart with
joy that Christ came and drank that cup for you? I will pay
my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. I'll stand in the midst of them.
and I'll praise God with them, as one company, as one bride
of Christ, all sinners, all lost by nature. But we've all come
the same way, we've all been brought from the same place,
we all stood on the brink of death, the sorrows of death had
compassed us all around, and here we stand together as one
company, delivered by this one Saviour. and we'll pay our vows
together in the presence of one another. We'll praise his name
as one people. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. What's brought us to this point?
What's brought us into the house of God? What's put faith in our
hearts to say I love the Lord? The death. of his saints. We stand here walking in the
land of the living. We stand here as one company
before God. We stand here walking by faith
because in Christ we've died. Because Christ died in our stead
and because we with him died. Our old man was crucified. What we were in Adam has been
slain. What we were as sinners has been
judged. And it's a precious death. Yes,
the death, the natural death of the saints is precious in
the sight of God. When we finally pass from this
world into the next and enter into glory, that will be a precious
thing, we'll be with Him forevermore. But the certainty of what happens
on that day happens because on the day in which Christ died,
we all died with Him. And everything we were as sinners
in Adam has been taken away. Precious Precious in the sight
of the Lord when he looked at his son and when his son breathed
his last breath upon the cross and said it is finished and gave
up the ghost God the Father looked down and saw all his people breathe
their last breath with him and all that they were that stood
between them and Almighty God. All that they were in Adam, all
their sins, all their iniquities which prevented them coming into
the Lord's presence have been taken away. And how precious
a sight that was to God the Father, for from that very moment a great
company were led into the very presence of Almighty God by the
Saviour. Here comes the mighty conqueror
with his bride, with his people, with his church. A great company
from the four corners of the earth entered into the very presence
of God. What a sight this would be! Like
when there's been a raging battle in a country far away and here
the victorious army returns. Wounded, beaten, bruised, covered
in blood the lot of them, but here they come victorious. And the father sees them coming
into his presence and he rejoices. How Christ can say, precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints and how the
psalmist, the believer can say it with him. There's one voice
here. He said earlier, I believe, therefore
have I spoken. Christ says that. And the believer
says it with him. And they all come before the
Father. I believe, and therefore I have
spoken. We believe, O Lord. and they
cry out with their Saviour unto the Father, I love the Lord. O Lord, truly I am thy servant,
I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid, that hast
loosed my bonds. 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, in the court of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee,
O Jerusalem. So says the servant of the Lord. The psalmist says it, but Christ
says it through him. O Lord, truly I am thy servant. I'm thy servant and the son of
thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. Loosed
my bonds. Delivered. Free. The psalmist
knows what it was to have bonds and be delivered from them. But
Christ in his place knew what it was to be bound of men. Bound
to a cross by their sins. tied fast to that place of execution
by the sins of his people, bound. He could not escape. The guilt
of their sins was upon him. He was tied, he was nailed there. There was no escape. Once he
was purposed to go, there was no turning back. Once he left
heaven's glory and entered this world, there was no turning back.
Once he was born there was no turning back. Once he took his
first step in this world there was no turning back. His face
was set like a flint towards Jerusalem. There was no turning
back. He felt as it were the bonds
of those sins coming upon him. He had to go. there was no turning
back but as he approached the cross and they took him and nailed
him to that tree there was no turning back the sins were laid
upon him as he was lifted up and the darkness of the world
came upon him the light of the sun was taken away all the sins
of all his people came upon him as bounds round around him from
which he could not escape and from which he would not escape
He came to deliver them. He would not turn. He chose not
to turn. Even if He had the ability, He
chose not to turn. He laid down His own life freely
for them. He would take their sins, He
would take their bonds, and He would deliver them. And as God
judged Him, and as the wrath of God judged those sins to the
uttermost and blotted out every single one through that judgment,
God loosed his bonds. They were loosed. He was delivered. Every one of his people in him
was loosed and delivered from them. But that deliverance and
that loosing, that ransom, that redemption, that freedom came
at a price. Yes, God loosed his bonds, but
it came through death. It came through judgement and
it could come no other way. When we ask to be delivered from
trouble is to escape the trouble. He was loosed of these bonds
through the trouble, through the judgment that these sins
had brought. He drank the cup to the uttermost,
but by dying, by finishing the work, he was loosed of his bonds. the servant of God, served his
God. He never turned. He came as God's
servant into the world and he did all that God would have him
do, all that he had promised to do, all that he had covenanted
to do, all that his love for his people would have him do. He loved them and he gave himself
for them. I will offer to thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. He
did what it was. He did what was required to save
his people. He went to the uttermost because
he loved them with a love that goes to the uttermost parts of
this world For those who are as far away from God as they
can get, to those who are as far fallen into sin as they can
fall, His love goes to where they are, as far off as they
are, wherever they are. O sinner this day, maybe you
don't know Him. Maybe you know you're a sinner.
Maybe you know of the gospel. Maybe you know of Jesus Christ. Maybe you know that salvation's
through his blood but you don't know him. You don't know that
his blood was shed for you. You can't say I love the Lord
from the heart because you don't know. You cry and you don't know
whether you've been heard. You cry out to him for mercy
but you don't know if he's heard. Well cool. Continue to cry, continue
to call. I will call upon the name of
the Lord, call. Because He came into the world
for sinners. He came unto those that know
that they're lost. If you know you're lost, He came
for the lost. If you know you're a sinner,
He came for sinners. If you know you're on the brink
of hell, that's the very ones He came for. If you know you have no hope,
it's those that have no hope for whom he died for whom he
brought in hope It's those who cannot save themselves, whom
he came to save. It's those who are not righteous
in any sense, for whom he came to suffer and die. He came not
to call the righteous, but sinners unto repentance. You say, but
I'm too far gone. That's the very sort he came
for. I'm too far off. That's the very
ones he seeks. He doesn't come for those that
have lived right. He doesn't come for those that
have been all upright in the church and are proud of what
they do. He's not seeking the self-righteous. He's seeking
the lost. He came for the lost, He suffered
for the lost and He saved the lost. He saved them. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. He saved them. Cry out, call upon the name of
the Lord. For if you call from the heart, if you cry out and you're His,
He will incline His ear unto you. If you're truly lost and
you know it and you have no hope but Christ, He will incline His
ear. He will hear. And you will be
brought to faith to believe if you're His. Because salvation's
not in your hands. It's in His. Christ could say
of His Father, Thou hast loosed my bonds. God the Father had to judge Him. God the Father had to deliver
Him from that sin. God the Father had to blot out
that sin. God had to do it. God is the
Saviour. And if you're to know salvation,
it won't be you. It will be God through Jesus
Christ. It will be God sacrificing His
Son in your place that delivers you. And if you know what it
is to be delivered, you will join with Him. You will join
with Christ in offering up the sacrifice of thanksgiving, in
calling upon the name of the Lord, in paying your vows unto
the Lord in the presence of His people, in gathering in the courts
of the Lord's house, in gathering in the midst of Jerusalem, praising
the Lord. Where are you? Where does your
love take you? Where will it take you this week? Where will it take you next month? Where do your loves take you? Well the psalmist loved the Lord
and it took him into the midst of Jerusalem, into the courts
of the Lord's house. It led him to walk with the people
of God in the land of the living. It led him into the presence
of Jesus Christ and he praised the Lord. He praised the Lord
because the Lord had heard him when he was lost, when he was
dead and the Lord in his gospel had made him to live. Oh what
do you praise? Who do you praise? Who do you
love? Do you love Christ? Do you love
the Lord? Has He heard you? Has He brought
you amongst His people? Has He brought you under the
sound of the Gospel? Has He brought you to the feet
of Jesus Christ? Can you look upon that Saviour
and see a loving Saviour who with you says, I love the Lord.
A Saviour who died in your place. A Saviour whose love took Him
all the way to the cross. All the way through the darkness.
all the way out the other side, a love that leads him and his
people and you into the very presence of God the Father, victorious
as one company that comes before the Lord, that comes before the
Father and says with unison together, praise ye the Lord, I love the
Lord. Amen.