Just one order of business to
get out of the way right up front. Bob, I'll be there too. It kind of reminds me a little
of the last time Chris came down to Texas. I picked him up at
the airport and we went to one of his favorite and now one of
my favorite seafood restaurants. As we sit there and decided what
the order, the waiter came up to us and said, We said, could
we get a menu? And he looked at us and he said,
how about an estimate? I didn't much appreciate it. If you would this morning, turn
with me to Psalm 106. Psalm 106. I recently heard a message that
Brother Paul Mahan preached on this text, and I urge each of
you, if you use sermon audio to get on there and listen to
that message. It was entitled, Nevertheless. As you read through
this chapter in Psalm 106, it's amazing. And what a picture it
is of the sinner, verse after verse. discontinued to sin against
God, but the scripture says, never the less. Regardless of
our sin, His mercy, His grace is never the less. What a blessing that was. This
morning, by God's grace, I want to endeavor to speak to you on
the first four verses of this marvelous psalm. Psalm 106. Praise ye the Lord. That's a good way to start out
a song, isn't it? It's a good way to start out
a message. Praise ye the Lord. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good. Brother Shanks preached a message
years ago. God is good. I can just hear
him say it. God is good. His mercy, for His
mercy endureth forever. Who can utter the mighty acts
of the Lord? Who can show forth all His praise? Blessed are they that keep judgment,
and he that doeth righteousness at all times. And remember me. Remember me, O Lord. with the
favor that thou bearest unto thy people. Oh, visit me with
thy salvation. Now this psalm is without the
name of the author, but I'm certain of this. It's written by a man
who knew God. It's no prayer that's pure. more glorious, more spiritual
than one that comes from a heart filled with love and praise for
Christ our Lord. This prayer comes from a heart
made pure by Christ. And it's truly praise unto a
sovereign God. Oh, a man that's been taught
a God. He'll praise Him. He'll thank
Him. He'll thank and praise the true
God of heaven and earth with words of thanksgiving. Praise
ye the Lord. He says, oh, give thanks unto
the Lord. Why? He's good. His mercy endureth
forever. He's good. God's children give
thanks always for all things. They give thanks for all things,
whether they're temporal, whether they're eternal. Do you know
why? Because they're not worthy of either. I think about that rich young
ruler and so many people today, they come to religion and the
first thing out of their mouth is, what good thing must I do
to be saved? People want to do something,
don't they? You want to do something, you
bow, you beg, you plead. That's all that God requires
is that you feel your need of him, the hymn writer wrote. He
told that rich young ruler real quick, he said, there's none
good but God. See, God is good in and of himself. He's the author of all good.
He's especially good to the elect because right here, the psalmist
tells us, his mercy endures forever. Oh, do I worry about assurance? Do I have assurance? Do I worry
about my salvation? Every single time I look in here,
I do. But when I look to Christ, if God saved me, I'm saved forever.
because his mercy endures to me forever. Now let me just ask you a question
seriously. If we do not praise and thank
God for the mercies that we've already received in Christ, and
numerous they are, how can we truly ask him for more? Now let me see if I can illustrate
this. I don't know that I can, I hope
I can, but if I make a request, or let's just say you see I have
a need, or I make a request unto you to help me with something,
in which you're not at all obligated to provide, to give, but you
graciously provide it to me anyway. You didn't have to. But you did
because you loved me. And you wanted to fulfill my
need. You wanted me to have what I needed. And let's just say
that I don't thank you. I don't show you any appreciation
whatsoever. No gratitude at all for what
you just graciously did for me. How would you feel the next time? I asked you for help. I asked
you for grace. Well, let me take you off the
spot here and tell you how I'd feel if it was reversed. I'd say, well, that no good scoundrel
didn't even thank me or didn't even seem grateful the last time
I helped him. That's exactly what I'd say. Is it any different? than when
we don't praise our great and marvelous God. Oh, God's children
thanking, God's children praising. Now I understand that it's different
with God than it is with man. God is infinitely patient and
long-suffering with us, and I'm so glad He is. And I'm also aware
that we, by nature, are never truly thankful as we ought to
be. But when we ignore praise to our Almighty God for all the
things that He's done and He continues to do, we fail to acknowledge
our obligation to the Great Giver, Jehovah Jireh, the Great Provider. This prayer of praise before
us this morning, this prayer of thanksgiving to Christ in
this text, it's given by a man who knows something about God.
I tell you this, he knew something about the sovereignty and the
power of God. Look at verse two. Who can utter
the mighty acts of the Lord? That's a good question. And the
answer is no one. Job said, God which doeth great
things past finding out. Yea and wonders without number. Paul said, oh the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out. John said, and there are also
many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written,
every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain
the books that should be written. The half of them you told hasn't
been taught. of how great our God is and how
great our sin is. Oh, may God teach us. Here's a man that knows something
about God, knows something about the blessedness of the saints.
Verse three, he says, blessed are they that keep judgment and
that doeth righteousness at all times. Now, to keep judgment,
friends, is to know something of His justice. to know something
of His holiness, His truth, His faithfulness. It speaks of those
who love His Word, His laws, His statues, His ordinances. We love His Word. God's people
love His Word. They love these things because
they love Him. And we love Him. Why? Because
He first loved us. And then how are we going to
deal with this doeth-righteousness at all times? We who cannot do
righteousness at all. There's none that doeth good.
There's none that are righteous. There's none that seeketh after
God. They've all, every one of them have gone astray. How do
we keep righteousness at all times? Well, it's easy if you know the
answer. Christ is our righteousness. And to do righteousness at all
times is just to continually believe, lead, and trust on Him
who is righteous. Is that right? I believe it is. I know that it's not by works
of righteousness that I've done. Don't have any. He is our righteousness. And in verse four, I suppose
the psalmist here has, he's penned my permanent prayer. You know, prayers don't have
to be long to be effective, do they? Remember me, oh Lord. Remember me. with a favor. Oh, don't remember
me in judgment. Don't remember me in justice.
Don't give me what I deserve. Remember me with favor. With favor. That same favor that
thou barest unto thy people. You're a child of God here. You
know what favor I'm talking about. only the favor that God gives
those that are His. Yes, I made this my prayer. Remember
me, O Lord, with the favor that Thou barest unto Thy people.
Now, I want to spend what time I have left on these last six
words. Look at them with me. Visit me with thy salvation. Now we know that grace and mercy
is God giving me what I don't deserve, redemption. I don't
deserve redemption. And it's not giving me what I
do deserve, which is condemnation. And these six words, my, when
we look at them closely, we see that the chief concern here of
the psalmist is God's salvation, thy salvation. What a wonderful
word that is. It may not be a wonderful word
to you if you're not lost, but if you're lost, undone, That
word, oh, it becomes precious to you. Salvation is the one thing that
all men need, all men and women. You know why? For all sin comes
short of the glory of God. As we said, there's none that
doeth good, no, not of one. And when salvation is given to
us, and that's the only way it can be, it can be restored. It's
given, it's a free gift. It entails innumerable mercies
for all time and for all eternity. Indeed, everything good is wrapped
up in that word. If you read, as I said earlier,
through the rest of this psalm, you'll see something about our
need for salvation. I encourage you to read it. And I suppose one of the worst
results of the fall of man, they're spiritually dead. And they don't
pray for life. They love darkness rather than
light. So here the psalmist says, oh,
visit me with thy salvation. I want you to notice here of
the condescension of our God and Savior. Oh, visit me with
thy salvation. Lord, I can't be saved unless
you visit me. Don't visit me in judgment. Don't
visit me in justice. Don't give me what I deserve,
but visit me in thy salvation. If you're here this morning and
you have not felt the burden of your horrific sin, you need
a visit. You need a visit from on high.
You need a divine visitation. If you've not yet met the sin
bearer, Christ Jesus, then you're still a bond slave to sin and
you need a visitation from on high. Oh God, I'm lost until
you come to me. Oh come Lord and visit me as
a savior. Come and visit me as the great
physician. I'm sick. I'm guilty. I need a visit of
mercy. A visit of grace, a visit of
tenderness. I beg you, come and visit me.
I'm a prisoner. Waiting execution. You know why?
Because I'm guilty. Yet, Lord, come and visit me. I like old Mephibosheth. I'm
lame. I'm weak. You know what happened
to Mephibosheth? He fell a great fall. So did I. And Lord, I don't have a leg
to stand on. Visit me. Carry me to your house. Come to my house, Lord, visit
me. My heart's deceitful above all
things, desperately wicked. Only God can know. Come and visit
me. If I cannot come to you, would
you come to me? Oh, Fanny Crosby, she didn't
have eyes to see naturally, but she sure had eyes to see spiritually. She surpassed me in the eyes
of a gentle sailor. Come visit me. Hear my humble
cry. Well, another thing that I think
we see here, how beautiful it is, is the personal necessity
of this salvation. Lord, I need you more than any
other. Please visit me. Oh, what personal necessity. Until you come to me, I'll continue
to be a wretch. Forever. unless you come to me. Visit me with thy salvation. And I've learned by God's grace,
dear friends, it's always unwise to make our necessity appear
little. Our need is so great, I can assure
you that you'll never over-exaggerate your need. Take care that you don't diminish
your need. When you come before God Almighty,
don't try to make yourself out to be a little sinner. He knows
better. And it's not likely that you
and I can make ourselves appear more guilty than we are. I suppose the wise thing to do
is just to state our case. And all its blackness. And all
its badness. and cry unto him, oh, visit me. Visit me with thy salvation.
Visit me to save me. If ever a soul needed saving,
Lord, it's me. It's me. Now let me ask you a
question again. If you're drowning in the depths
of the ocean, would it seem selfish? that you desired a life for him. I know we're to pray for one
another, and I know, and covet, I know you pray for us, and we
pray for you, and we covet one another's prayers. I know that
we should pray for the whole church of God, all those who
preach the truth about Christ, who he is, what he's done, what
we are, what we need. The great necessity I have is
that I'm a desperate, wicked sinner. And I pray, oh Lord,
remember me and visit me with your salvation. When your soul's
in danger, friends, it's not selfish to seek first the kingdom
of God. It's a necessity. It's a necessity. If not, we'll perish. And the last thing that I would
have you to consider with me in these six words is the specialness. I don't know if that's a word
or not, but it's special. It is now, isn't it? Thy salvation. The kind of salvation being described
in this psalm is the only salvation. It's a salvation wrought by a
sovereign, omnipotent God, who works all things after the counsel
of His own will. And He saved me on purpose. The God of purpose. I'm glad
I've had men like you that are here. I thank you for telling me the
truth all these years. Todd, Don, Paul, thank you. Thank
God for you. Friends, this salvation, this
salvation is where mercy and truth are met together. This is the salvation where righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. And the psalmist says, it's thy
salvation. It's God's salvation. And when
he says that, he means real salvation. It's a sovereign work of grace.
It's a supernatural work done by God in Christ. It's a resurrection
work, is it not? In raising the dead and giving
new life. It's a complete salvation. delivers
us not only from sin, but from the love of sin. Oh friends, God's salvation is
a salvation that saves from within as well as outwardly. I was told all my life, you need
to straighten up and fly right. I can't straighten up and I can't
fly right. So that's not gonna work. Oh, may God grant us to never
be content with a salvation which is not the work of God's divine
grace. Remember me. Remember me, all. Show me favor, favor that you
bear and give unto your people. Visit me. I need a divine visitation. Visit me with thy salvation.