All right. Back in Psalm 116,
let's look at it again. We read it. We won't read it
again. But our text will be verse 12,
that question. The psalmist asked himself, what
shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me. Just below the parsonage, on
the left side of the highway, there's a pretty large church. I don't know what name it is,
not important, probably Baptist. Every town's got a big Baptist
or two. But they have a sign out near the road that says,
what are you thankful for? What are you thankful for? Now
this Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. I thought about that yesterday
as I looked over this passage of scripture and my message.
And it's been a while since I was in history class, Carlos. It's been a while. So I got on
the Internet, looked up Thanksgiving to kind of refresh my memory. And I found out that the Mayflower,
now I didn't remember that much, It left England in 1620. I wouldn't have remembered that
year. But with 102 people on board and among them, not all
of them, but among them, there were some seeking freedom to
worship God as they felt they should. And they were called
pilgrims. They landed first at Cape Cod.
Then about a month later, they crossed the Massachusetts Bay
and established a colony called Plymouth. And only about half
of the people that made the voyage, those 102, survived to see the
first spring. William Bradford, the first governor,
declared a feast to celebrate their first harvest in November
of 1621. And it wasn't declared a national
holiday like we have today until 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. I'm thankful for that. Thankful
for the freedom that we enjoy. But that's not what I want to
talk about. That's an illustration and that's
all. But that's not what I want to talk about. Not here, not
now. I want to talk about a different
freedom. Something even more, so much
more, that God's people ought to be thankful for. In Hebrews
chapter 11, The writer says in verse 13,
these all died in faith. That is, all those he'd mentioned
before, Abraham and Isaac. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And so are we. Every believer is a stranger
and a pilgrim on this earth. And I'm thankful that it's so.
Don't you feel out of place here? Don't you? Can't you sing with
the old hymn writer, this world's not my home? And I grow homesick. I'm just passing through. The writer went on to say in
Hebrews 11, For they that say such things, that confess that
they're pilgrims and strangers on this earth, declare plainly
that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful
of that country from whence they came out, they might have had
opportunity to have returned. They might have gone back, looked
back like Lot's wife. Oh, but their heart was set on
something more. Verse 16, but now they desire
a better country. That is the heavenly. For God
is not ashamed to be called their God, for He had prepared for
them a city. Christ told His disciples that
night, just before His arrest, I go to prepare a place for you. Now look again, if you will,
at Psalm 116, verse 12. The psalmist asked this question.
How can I thank God? The title of my message is An
Obligation to Mercy. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
we're debtors. We're head over heels in debt,
Louie, to His mercy and His grace. Paul says, or rather David says,
what shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward
me? Let's consider that question.
What shall I render? What shall I give to God in response
to such benefits toward me? How do I thank Him? How do I
respond? Lord, such mercy, such grace,
such benefits continually from eternity. demanded a response
from my heart. Oh, what shall I give? What shall
I render? How shall I respond? You recall in Luke's Gospel,
chapter 17, one day our Lord passed, I suppose, a leper colony. And there were 10 leopards, we're
told, that stood afar off. They weren't allowed to come
closer. They could only abide with one another. They stood
afar off and they cried out, Lord, have mercy on us. Would you please help us? We've
heard what you've done for others. Would you please have mercy on
us? And our Lord said, go show yourself
to the priest. I've not come to destroy the
law but to fulfill the law. The law pronounced you unclean
and now the law has to pronounce you clean. And as they were going,
they were cleansed. Do you remember that? And one
of them, One of them out of the ten turned around and came back
to where the Lord was. Oh, they all united when they
cried for mercy. All ten of them were crying for
mercy, but only one turns around. When he saw he was cleansed,
he came back to the feet of the Savior and he fell before Him,
given thanks to God. You remember what our Lord said?
Were there not ten cleansed? Were there not ten cleansed?
Where are the nine? What shall I render unto the
Lord? In most places today, and I take no delight in saying this,
you know that it's so, In most places of worship, as they're
called today, everybody will be thanked. Everybody will be
recognized. Everybody will be congratulated
for something or other but God. But God. Not here. Not here. No. Thank God, not
here. Look across the page of your
Bible at the 115th Psalm, verse 1. Not unto us, O Lord. Not unto
us. Henry said, it's just one worm
bragging on another worm. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Our Lord said to the Pharisees
when they tried to entangle him in his words, should we pay tribute
to Caesar or not? Should we give him our money?
Should we pay the taxes? And our Lord said, show me the
coin. Whose image is this? Caesar's, they said. He said,
well then, render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's,
and unto God the things that are God's. Under an overwhelming
sense of God's goodness. God make me feel that now. Don't allow me to preach in a
mechanical way. Don't let me behave like a robot. Don't let me speak of things
that I don't feel in my own heart. Oh, may God at this very hour
give each of us believers an overwhelming sense of His goodness
and His mercy. This is what David speaks of.
This is why he asked himself the question. What shall I render? How shall I thank God for the
goodness and mercy that has followed Him and us all the days of our
life? In light of that, I want us each
to ask ourselves. I'm not going to ask you what
you should render. No. Ask yourself. Ask your heart. Oh, as David
looked back in verses 1 through 11, at the many blessings. I was brought low and He heard
me. I was bound and He set me free. Oh, He heard my prayer. There's
nowhere else I could look. And God came to where I was and
He lifted me up. How can I thank Him? David says. Oh, those whose hearts have experienced
God's mercy are inspired to ask themselves, what gift can I bring? I want to show him my gratitude
for his grace. After all, everything I have,
everything I have, and everything I am, I owe to him. It belongs to him, lock, stock,
and barrel. Where would I be? Brothers and
sisters, ask yourself that. Where would I be without him? Where would I be without His
mercy and grace? You know the answer. And in view
of that, in consideration of that, what shall I render unto
the Lord for all His benefits toward me? It's an obligation
of love, not legal fear. I remember years ago being in
a church where the pastor would often scold his people. If the offerings were scant, he'd scold them. You're not giving
your 10%. Hear the crack of that whip,
Louie? If you don't give it willingly,
God's going to take it out of your hide. Boy, that's a good
incentive, isn't it? If you don't give it, God's going
to take it one way or the other. No, we're not under the law.
No, no, no. Oh, we're under the obligation
of love, not legal fear. And the writer, as we said of
the psalm, looks back in verses 1 through 11. and reminding himself
what God in mercy had done for his soul, for him, he asks the
question of verse 12. And he gives the answer to the
question. In the remainder of the psalm, verses 13 through
19, Paul said, it's the love of Christ that constraineth us. The love of Christ. We do what
we do out of love for him. May God's love constrain us to
do whatever we do for His glory. Whether it's give, whether it's
witness, pray, sing, preach, let it be the love of God that
constraineth us. Let us be that one leper. That
one, let the religious world go their way, but let's be that
one leper that turns back and falls before Him on her face
and gives glory to Him to whom glory is due. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for saving a sinner
like me. Don't let me get over it. Don't
let me get used to that idea. Don't allow me to hear the glorious
gospel of the good news that you saved the sinners and you
proved it to me. You proved to me that you saved
to the uttermost because I came to you. And you saved me. And are saving me. And will yet
save me. God help me never to get over
it. This psalm and David's question
reminds me of what we read of in 2 Thessalonians 2. Will you
turn there with me? 2 Thessalonians 2. You know where I'm going. But
it's worth looking at. It's worth being reminded of,
isn't it? 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, listen to what Paul writes to
the church at Thessalonica. Only a blind man can deny that
what Paul speaks of here as being common in his day is more so
in our day. Look what he says in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work. Already work. Only he who now
leth or allows will let, until he be taken out of the way. And
then shall that wicked, that wicked one be revealed, whom
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall
destroy with the brightness of His coming, even him whose coming
is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders." Doesn't that sound familiar? Signs and wonders. That's what you hear on every
hand. God wants you healthy. And God wants you wealthy. And
people pack places to hear that. Verse 10, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because, listen, because
not unjustly, because they receive not the love of the truth that
they might be saved, because they deliberately turn their
back on the truth, they deliberately refuse to hear the truth, look
what we're told in verse 12. And for this cause, God shall
send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that
they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had
pleasure in unrighteousness. Brothers and sisters, look around.
Look around. If that doesn't describe our
day, oh, you know that it does. People will believe and follow
anything and everything but the truth. But not everybody. Not everybody
jumps on that religious bandwagon. Thank God our Lord said, if it
were possible, they'll arise false Christs and false prophets
saying, look here, look there. Don't go after them. He said,
if it were possible by their lying wonders, they'll deceive
the very elect. But for the elect's sake, He
says, I'll shorten the days. They'll not be deceived. This
is what Paul says in verse 13. But, does your heart leap when
it comes to that verse? Oh, what a dark and terrible
picture we read of. What a horrible time. Because
right now I think of some of my own loved ones. I love them. But they're on that bandwagon.
They follow these lies and Hucksters making merchandise out of men's
souls. And it breaks my heart. I pray
for them. God, reach down your mighty hand
and bring them out. Open their eyes that they might
see. Verse 13, but... Look what Paul
says. He echoes the same words of David
in verse 12 of Psalm 116. But we are bound to give thanks
always, always, to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief on the truth, whereunto
He called you. He used this means. Yes, He chose
you. Yes, you're elect, but He called
you, called you by our gospel. Election doesn't make void the
preaching of the gospel. No, it's the means that God uses
that call His chosen. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Old Augustus Toplady wrote a
lot of hymns. The one I suppose we're most
familiar with is Rock of Ages. But he wrote another called A
Debtor to Mercy Alone. Listen to it. a debtor to mercy
alone, of covenant mercy I sing, nor fear with thy righteousness
on my person and offerings to bring. The terrors of law and
of God with me can have nothing to do. My Savior's obedience
and blood hide all my transgressions from you." Oh, that's good. That's sweet,
isn't it, Lester? And then the last stanza of the
hymn says, my name from the palms of his hands, eternity will not
erase. Impressed on his heart, it remains
in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure,
as sure as the earnest is given. More happy, but not more secure,
the glorified saints in heaven. Oh, in light of such mercy. Isn't it a wonder, brothers and
sisters? Isn't His grace just a marvel
to your soul? My soul, you mean He heard me? He stooped down to hear the prayer
of this worthless sinner? My soul, what shall I render
to him? How shall I thank him? David
asked himself the question. And why did David ask himself
this question? We've jumped ahead of ourselves
some in answering that, but David seems to have a heartfelt talk. He seems to be having a heartfelt
talk with himself concerning God's dealings with him. Now,
I realize people see you talking to yourself sometimes, they might
want to call somebody to check you out. I'm not talking about
that. Oh, but David has a heartfelt
talk with himself just between him and his God. Concerning God's
dealings with him, David Choose the cud, as we say. Old Spurgeon
said, some of the best talks a man ever has is with himself.
You remember those days? They're not plum gone, are they?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, you remember those days, those
quieter times, when there wasn't so much hustle and bustle, when
there wasn't so many gadgets, so many things that demand our
attention? I may have told you this, I was
talking to my granddaughter one time, 16 years old, and while
I was talking to her, how are you doing? How's school? She's
sitting there texting. And I said, I'll tell you what,
Harley, if you don't want to talk to me, take your phone and
go to another room. If you're going to talk to me,
then put that thing away. Put it away. I mean, these things
are a blessing, I know. Oh, but I don't want them and
they can't substitute for getting along with God. Oh, remember
those times when we were young? We didn't have all these things,
Carlos. How did we get along without them, Louie? Just fine. Just fine. There was quiet times. You could go out. You didn't
have to leave the country, go to an island to find some solitude. You could just go out behind
your house and find your quiet place and just sit down or slip
out after dark and lay in the field and look up at the stars
and think, my soul, what a wonder. What a wonder. Are those times
extinct? No, no, no, not if we really
want to. I was in the store a week or
so ago. It was early, picking up something
or looking for something. And Lester, Lester called me. He said, what are you doing,
Larry? I said, well, I'm in here trying to find something, but
they've got such music blasting over these speakers, this rapid
music. I don't like that stuff any time
of the day, but especially in the morning. And I said, that's
what I'm doing and that's what I'm hearing. If I don't find
what I want pretty soon, I'm walking out of here. They can
keep it. I don't need it." Oh, so much noise, so much distraction. The devil says, look, look, come
here, go there, take time. You don't have time to hear the
Word. Oh, get along with God. Get along with God. That's what
David does. He gets away with his God and
meditates on God's goodness, and then he asks himself this
question, what shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits
toward me? You notice the word benefits?
Plural. Plural. More than one. Turn, if you will, to Psalm 68.
The same word is used and the same idea. of God's many mercies
is given. In Psalm 68, verse 19, again
the psalmist says, Blessed is the Lord. Blessed is the Lord who daily
loatheth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation, Selah. Selah. Oh, daily, he says, Not
occasionally, but every day. Every day. Oh, brothers and sisters,
do you know where you would be if God for one day would withhold
His mercy, His grace, His benefits? Oh, daily. Day by day, the man
of Pharaoh. He daily loatheth us with benefits. Jeremiah said, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail
not. They are new every morning. Great
is Thy faithfulness. He daily loatheth us with benefits. Loatheth. I like the word, don't
you? As much as we can carry. As much
as we need, as much mercy and grace is necessary to keep this
sinner, he loatheth me with. Every day, Peter in both of his
epistles, 1 and 2 Peter, he addresses them to strangers, scattered
pilgrims. And he says in chapter 1, grace
and peace be multiplied. Never divided, Jeff. No, no,
no. God never divides His mercy. He never withdraws it. Oh, no. His mercy, His grace follows
us all the days of our life. And David says at the end of
that verse, Selah. Selah. In other words, stop. Think about it. Think about what
you just read. Think about that blessed truth.
Every day of your life, before you knew Him, God had His hand
on you. Yea, before that, before the
world began, God loved you with an everlasting love. That boggles
my pee-wee brain, doesn't it yours? I just can't get a hold
of that law. He's loved me with an everlasting
love. There's not a time that God didn't
love me. Christ didn't die to prove God's
love to me. Christ died because God loved
me. Oh, Selah. Selah. Loads of benefits. Loads of obligation. And loads of praise unto our
God. Verse 1 of Psalm 116. The psalmist
said, I love the Lord because... Because. We love Him because
He first loved us. Is it not so? The because is
on our side, not God's. I love the Lord because. God says I will love them freely. Freely. Turn, if you will, to
the book of Hosea. Hosea, right after Daniel, right
before Joel. The book of Hosea. In the last chapter, chapter
14 of Hosea, verse 4, we're going to look at chapter 3 for just
a moment, but read this first. Because the whole book of Hosea
is a demonstration of what God says here. He sums up what He's
taught by Hosea and Gomer right here. As an illustration of his
love for his people, he says, I will heal their backsliding.
I will love them freely. Freely. Now that word doesn't
mean a whole lot in our day. Oh, but it means much here in
God's Word. I will love them freely, for
my anger is turned away from them. There's no more anger in
them. No more wrath, because the Son
of God, our glorious substitute, took that cup and drank damnation
dry. And now He says, I'll take the
cup of salvation, David said, didn't he? And give to you. And
all, brothers and sisters, our cup runneth over. I will love
them freely. That means without a cause. Don't let that go by too fast.
Without a cause. We don't love that way. It's
not in us to love that way. You love that lady sat beside
you for reasons. She likewise you. There's a reason
for it. Oh, but God says, I'll love them
freely, without a cause, without any reason in them why I should
be attracted to them, but the very opposite. Every reason I
should be repulsed with my love. Oh, I love them freely. It's
the same word in Romans 3, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The same word
in Luke, when He said to that woman, I freely. I freely forgive
you of all your sins." Freely without cause. And he said to
Simon, to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. But to
whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much. That doesn't mean
that woman was forgiven because she loved much. She loved much
because she was already forgiven. She was forgiven when she went
into Simon's house. And she expressed her gratitude
by washing our Lord's feet. Now look back in Gomer, if you
will, at chapter 3. Chapter 3. The whole book of
Gomer is an illustration of God's love for His people, His free
love. Gomer, or rather Hosea was instructed
of God, was told by God, go pick a woman, take a wife from a heathen
nation, a nation of whoredoms in chapter 1. I want to illustrate
my love for my people. Go take such a woman. And Hosea
obeyed. He took the woman to be his wife,
Gomer. She bore him sons, but then she
was unfaithful to him again and again and again. In chapter 2,
she goes after her lovers. And while she was there, unfaithful
to Hosea, he would slip in and put food at her door so she wouldn't
go hungry. Free life. Oh, that's God's love
for His people. Oh, but the time came like the
woman at the well in John 4, her lover's castor out, used
up, abused. And God says to Hosea in verse
1 of chapter 3, Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet. Go yet. Still yet, love a woman, beloved
of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the
Lord toward the children of Israel, his true Israel, who look to
other gods and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me."
She was his wife. He bought her? Yeah. She's on the auction block now.
The highs bid her. Nobody wanted her. But Hosea,
he wanted her. So I bought her to me for 15
pieces of silver and for a homer of barley and a half homer of
of barley. And I said unto her, Thou shalt
abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot,
and thou shalt not be for another man, so will I also be for thee."
Can you just picture that? Brothers and sisters in Christ,
is that not a picture of me and you on the auction block? Oh, dead in sin, crippled, used
up by this world, abused on the oxygen block. Nobody wants us. But he says, I'd love them to
pray for me. Can you just see old Hosea? He bids and they give
Gomer to him. And he puts her on his arm. And
there they walk. He's not ashamed of her. And
people are whispering like Simon did in Luke 7. She's a sinner. Doesn't Hosea
know what she's done? Sure he knew. But there he walks
with her, Louis, down the street. And he looks at her and says, you're my I've bought you. I've paid you. And you're mine. We're going home. Our Lord loved us. And He gave
Himself for us. And David says, What shall I
render unto the Lord? For all His benefits toward me. Oh, our time goes swiftly by.
Look back in Psalm 116. We'll wrap this up. David says, I love the Lord,
verse 1, because He had heard my voice and my supplication,
because He had inclined His ear unto me. When you read that or
heard me read it, God heard my prayer, David said. He heard
my cry, my anguish, my need. What was your reaction to that?
The religious world hears that, and I know what they say. They
say, so what? So what, Carlos? Big deal. You know why? Because they've been infected
by that other gospel, which is not another, that tells men God
owes everybody everything that is included in His mercy and
grace. That's why they never have a
sense of their need. God's love is cheapened. His
grace is made ineffectual. Oh no, that's not what made David
wonder. That's not what made David worship. Oh, he thinks to himself, my
soul, the God of glory, the God that's high and lifted up, The
God over all. To whom shall you compare me,
God says, or who shall be my equal? Look out upon the stars. Look out upon the creation. I
did it all. Thank God. so high, so mighty,
so holy. David said, I pray, O God, help
me. And that high and lowly God,
that high and holy God, bent over, inclined His ear down to
this helpless sinner, and heard my prayer, and lifted me up. What shall I render unto Him?
What a wonder, what a wonder. Again, Mr. Toplady, in writing
in his diary on New Year's Eve, 1767, not long before he died,
I think he was only 38 when he died, when God took him home. But he wrote this in his diary.
He said, up on review of the past year, I desire to confess
that my unfruitfulness has been exceeding great, my sins still
greater, And God's mercies greater than both. Greater than both. What shall
I render? I've got to close. But David
answers it in verses 13 through 18. I'm determined. I will, by
God's grace, do these things. Look at them in your own time. Oh, but may God give us grace
to go and do likewise. Last Sunday evening in the message,
I referred to that demoniac in Mark chapter 5, how that the
great shepherd did everything necessary to save that poor lost
sheep. But you remember, remember, Afterwards,
he was sitting clothed and in his right mind, and our Lord
got in the ship to depart, and he wanted to go with him. You
remember what the Lord Jesus said to him? No, no, no, no. No, you go home. You go home
to your friends. Go home to your friends. That's
what many of us will be doing. This week, be with friends and
family. Perhaps they'll come to where we're at this Thanksgiving
Day. He told that demoniac on which
he had bestowed such free love and grace. Go home to thy friends
and tell them. Tell them. Don't argue with them. Don't debate, find theological
points, but just go tell them the old, old story. What great
things, great mercy, great grace, the Lord had done, not what you
did, what the Lord did for you. For you. Go tell what God has
done for you. This is your story. Your story
of mercy. Nobody else can tell what God's
done for you except you. Old Newton said, I once was lost,
but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. Amazing
grace. And our Lord concluded to that
demoniac, go home and tell what great things the Lord has done
for thee and has had compassion on thee. Has had compassion on
thee. God may be pleased to use your
testimony to bring that one to himself. Oh yes, he uses those
means, does he not? Paul said, I become all things
to all men, that I might by all means save some. God bless you, brother Lowe.