Psalm 116. I want to begin reading in verse
1. I love the Lord because He hath
heard my voice and my supplication, because He has 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 God hold upon me. I found trouble.
I found sorrow. Then call I upon the name of
the Lord. O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver
my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yea, Your 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, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling."
I like to think in verse 1 that this is King David's profession.
He professes something here. It's amazing, and I think it
would be profitable to you if you read the book of Psalms,
go through it, and look at David's professions that he made. He
was a great king, probably one of the most wealthy kings Israel
had. And yet he said, I am poor and
needy. A king's profession. I am poor and needy. But here
he professes this. The Lord. That's a good profession,
ain't it? I think most people would probably
tell you, I love the Lord, if you ask them. But I'm sure that
David was telling the truth. He really loved the Lord. He
was writing you under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And when
he said, I love the Lord, he truly loved the Lord. It's not
a profession to be taken lightly. I think David made this profession
because he had some clear evidence that he did love the Lord. I
was thinking about this, and you know there's only two places
in all the Bible where anyone professes this, has a personal
profession that I love the Lord, only two places. In all God's
Word. It's here where David professed
it. And in John chapter 21, where the Lord said, Peter, do you
love me? He said, Lord, you know I love you. That's the only two
times that such a profession is made. I love the Lord. Peter and David. Love for the
Lord Jesus must be very rare. And the saints themselves don't
profess it loosely and lightly. Such a profession as this, I
love the Lord, with a believer is usually in private prayer.
He professes with his actions and with his attitude in public.
But you'll seldom hear a believer say, I love the Lord. Those are
precious words to him. guarded words. He doesn't use
them lightly. And he's careful not to use them
at all until he has heaven's evidence that he really does.
And there's something else concerning what people profess of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You seldom hear anybody professing,
I don't love the Lord Jesus. Ask your neighbors. Ask your
relatives. Ask your co-workers. Almost everyone
professes to love the Lord Jesus. Hardly anyone at all, if any,
professes, ìI do not love Him.î Men can associate His name with
all sorts of blasphemy and filth. They can lie to Him. They can
lie on Him. But they are ashamed and afraid
to say, I don't love you. They are afraid what society
might do to them. The scorn and the contempt of
society if I profess, I do not love the Lord Jesus Christ. I think the conscience bears
witness to this. Not to love the Lord Jesus Christ
is a great sin. That's why men will not profess.
The world will not own this charge that the Bible brings against
them. You do not love Him. Because they realize what a sin
it is not to love Him. Not to love Jesus Christ is inexcusable. And not to love Him is clear
evidence that judgment is pending for that individual. And yet
there was a time in David's life, and there was a time in your
life, and there was a time in my life. Though we look back
upon it now with shame and with brokenness, but there was that
time we did not love the Lord Jesus Christ. If we said it,
God would not bear witness to it. We would have never admitted
it then. But we look back upon it now,
and now we see there was a time when I did not love the Lord
Jesus Christ. Someone said, save in faith.
And love is alike, because there was a time in our lives when
we had neither of them. Neither faith nor love. When we were yet enemies, Christ died for us. Enemies. There was a time, Glenn, you
did not love Him. There was a time I did not love
Him. David loved Him dearly now. I love the Lord. But there was
even a time in David's life. We don't know when. It may have
been his young life. But David is no different from
anybody else. I was shapen in iniquity, in
sin did my mother conceive me. He could not always say, I love
the Lord, because there was a time when he didn't. You and I were
in the world, and we loved the course of this world. And this
is the condemnation, this is the sin, this is the guilt of
this world, that light has come into this world. in the very
person of God's Son. And men love darkness rather
than light. Everyone that doeth evil, he
hates the light. The world cannot hate you, but
me it hateth. And we were in the world, were
we not? And not only did we hate Jesus Christ, but he that hateth
me, hateth my Father which hath sent me. You and I weren't living somewhere
between hate and love. There's no such place. If you're
not with me, you're against me. If you're not gathering with
me, you're scattering abroad. Not to love Jesus Christ is sinful. Not to love the Lord Jesus Christ
is inexcusable. There isn't one reason that you
and I could think of not to love Him. There's many reasons to
love Him, but not one reason not to love Him. He's altogether
lovely. His person is lovely. His work
is lovely. His office is lovely. He's the cheapest of all thousands. He is altogether, altogether
lovely. I may find something in you that's
not lovely. And there may be something in
you that is lovely. And we should seek to find that
which is lovely in one another. But in seeking, we'll always
find those parts that's not lovely. But He is altogether lovely. No matter how you look at it,
from which direction, all aspects, Jesus Christ the Lord is lovely. He's perfect in holiness. He
did no sin. No guy was found in his mouth.
He never lied. He never stole. He never bore
false witness. Never brought an accusation.
He never wronged one person. He's called that Holy One, the
Just One, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He's full of pity. He's full
of love. Full of power. Full of grace. And he's called the friend of
sinners. He's altogether lovely. And even
though he's high and invested with all power in heaven and
in earth, yet he's meek and lowly in his heart. And he's the friend
of sinners, that receives sinners, and eats with them. He can be
approached into. No matter who looks at him, saint
or sinner, if they'll be honest, they'll have to acknowledge that
if a man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, he's inexcusable. They hated me without a cause. Without a cause. If we hate Him, You won't find the cause in Him.
It's in us. It's in us. Not to love the Lord
Jesus is present evidence of pending doom. I guess that's
another reason men will not profess, I don't love Him. They know how
sinful it is. They know how inexcusable it
is. And for one to profess, I do not love Jesus Christ, is sure
evidence that they'll be cursed. They'll be cast out at last.
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed
when the Lord comes. I love the Lord. What a holy
profession. What a good profession. What
a God-honoring profession. I love the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice this about David's
profession. It's an intelligent profession. Did you notice that? I love the
Lord because... because... David knows something
of his love for Christ. He knows it's not unconditional.
He knows it's caused. He could never have given you
a just cause for hating the Lord Jesus. There is none. But He's
ready to give us a cause why He loves Him. And there is always
a cause for loving Him. What an unwise and unfounded
profession if David had said, I've loved the Lord all my life. What a bad profession if he had
said, I don't know why I love him, I just do. David's profession
is a wise, intelligent profession. He's ready to give us an answer
for the reason he loved Jesus Christ. I love him because, because
he has heard my voice and my supplications. He's heard me. Boy, David was in trouble, wasn't
he? The sorrows of death can pass
me. The pains of hell got hold upon
me. I found trouble and I found sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord, and He heard me, and
I love Him for it. He delivered my eyes from tears,
my soul from hell, my feet from falling. That's the reason I
love Him. David's profession was scriptural
because That's scriptural, ain't it? We love Him because, John
said, He first loved us. David's profession is one of
experience. He didn't say, I heard this man
say that. No, he says, I know why I love
Him. I've experienced something from Him. I was in soul trouble. And I called. And He answered
me. And He delivered me. Prayer in the midst and times
of soul trouble is a forerunner of love's manifestation. Did you notice that? Prayer in
the time of soul trouble is a forerunner of love's manifestation. David
was in trouble, soul trouble. And he began to call. He began
to pray. He began to plead with the Lord.
And though he may not have realized it at that time, that was a forerunner
of the manifestation of the Lord's love to him. I was in trouble,
I called, and love delivered me. Love lifted me. The Lord told King Hezekiah,
He said, Set your house in order, for you're going to die. Hezekiah
turned his face against the wall and began to weep. and prayed
to the Lord. And the Lord cured him and delivered
him. And it was a manifestation of mercy and love. And he prayed
like this, Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from
the pit of corruption. Charles Spurgeon said this about
prayer. He said prayer is mercy's shadow. Prayer is mercy's shadow. When God piles up a hill of mercies,
He Himself shines behind them and He casts on our spirits the
shadow of prayer. So that you and I may rest certain,
if we are earnest in prayer, our pleadings are the shadows
of His mercy. When your soul is in trouble
and your heart is earnest in prayer, that's just a forerunner
of mercies and love. Now, often you and I found this
written in the Scriptures, and we found such Scriptures as this
to be our experience. Listen to these passages. In
my distress, I called upon the Lord, And I cried unto my God,
and he heard my voice out of his temple. And my cry came before
him, even unto his ear. He delivered me from my strong
enemies, from the hand of those that hated me, for they were
too strong for me." And listen to this one, "'Blessed be the
Lord, for he has showed me his marvelous kindness, For I said
in my haste, I am cut off before your eyes. Nevertheless, you
heard the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. Oh, love
the Lord, all you saints, for there is no want to them that
fear Him." And listen to this one, I sought the Lord. I sought
Him in prayer. I sought Him in earnest. I sought
Him in my heart. And He heard me. and delivered
me from all my fears. This poor man cried unto the
Lord, and He heard him, and saved him out of all his trouble. O taste and see that the Lord
is good! Blessed is that man that trusteth
in Him! O fear the Lord, ye His saints! For there is no want to them
that fear him. The young lions do lack, and
they suffer hunger. But they that seek the Lord shall
never want any good thing." See what prayer is? All through the
Psalms, it's always a shadow of coming mercy. It's always
something in God that He wants to reveal to His children. So he sends mercy, Spurgeon said,
and he piles it up upon the hill, and he stands behind the mercy,
and he casts mercy's shadow. And what is it? It's prayer.
It's prayer. And when we begin to pray earnestly
to Him, blessings is following. His blessings are following.
I waited patiently for the Lord. And he inclined unto my cry,
and he brought me up also out of the horrible pit and the miry
clay. The Lord heareth the poor, and
despiseth not his person." The Lord heareth the poor. So often
God gives His blessings, but He often delays His blessings.
to make us pray more earnestly. But our asking is so important.
And why is that? Because sometimes we don't value
the blessings we ask for. So He delays and our troubles
heap one upon another. And then we get more earnest.
Then we begin to realize the value of His blessing. Then we
don't take it for granted. He teaches us By that means, it shows that we are aware of
these blessings. It shows us that we are aware
of the source of them and the need of them. And therefore,
God often waits before He answers that you and I may learn to value
answered prayer. How often do you and I pray and
we never watch for an answer? How often do we ask for mercy
when we really don't value it? We ask to be delivered from the
temptations that we know nothing about. We don't value these things. But when the Lord teaches us
by heaping trouble, soul trouble upon us, then we begin to pray
earnestly. And then the blessing comes.
Then when the Lord inclines His ear to our callings and our pleadings,
then our profession of, I love the Lord, is renewed. I love the Lord. I loved Him
the first time He heard me, didn't you? And how often has that profession
been renewed? I love Him more. I love Him now. I love Him again. Why? Because I'm in trouble now. And
He heard me again. Look in a couple of places with
me and close in. Look back over to Psalms chapter
50. Look in verse 14 to 15. Here's what the Lord Himself
says about it. Offer unto God thanksgiving,
and pay your vows unto the Most High. And call upon Me in the
day of trouble, and I will deliver thee. And then what happens?
You will glorify Me. Oh, what a wonderful order that
is. Trouble. Trouble. And here the Most High
Himself is so careful He has His eye upon His child. And He
gives him these instructions. Call upon Me. With this promise,
I will answer thee. I will deliver thee. And you'll
have this resolved. You will glorify Me. You'll appreciate
mercy. Jeremiah chapter 33 and verses
1 through 3. Jeremiah 33 and verses 1 through
3. The word of the Lord came unto
Jeremiah the second time. While he was yet shut up in the
court of the prison, they put him in jail for preaching. Thus saith the Lord, the Maker
thereof, the Lord that formed it and established it, the Lord
is his name. Call unto me, and I will answer
thee. And I will show thee great and
mighty things which thou knowest not. What a promise! And one more place, and I'll
close. Ezekiel chapter 36. Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. It's mercy's shadow. I love the
Lord because He heard my prayer and my supplication. The Lord
had told in this chapter that there was coming a day. He said
in verse 24, when I take you from among the heathen, Ezekiel
36, 24, I'll take you from among the heathen, gather you out of
all countries. In verse 24, I'll bring you to
your own land. In verse 25, I'll sprinkle clean
water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness
and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And a new heart
will I give you, a new spirit will I put within you. I'll take
away the stony heart of your flesh and I'll give you a heart
of flesh. I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk
in my statues and keep them and my judgments and do them. And
you shall dwell in the land that I give to your fathers and you
shall be my people and I'll be your God." Now that's settled,
ain't it? That is so. This is what the
Lord said, I'm going to do. And He's been doing it for a
long, long time. But look what He says down in
verse 37. Well, look in verse 36. Then
the heathen that are around about you shall know that I am the
Lord. I the Lord that built the ruined places and plant that
which was desolate. I the Lord have spoken it. I'll
do it. And now look at this. Thus saith the Lord God, I will
yet for this be inquired of. by the house of Israel to do
it for them. Ain't that amazing? He says, I'm going to do it.
And then he says, I'm going to do it through prayer. I'm going
to give you a new heart as soon as you call upon me for one.
I'm going to give you a new spirit as soon as you call upon me for
one. I'm going to wash you from all your filthiness as soon as
you call upon me to do it. See what that does? That makes
us to value these things, doesn't it? It makes us to realize where
these blessings come from. We're made to know it and acknowledge
it and seek it to that end. Even sometimes with crying. I
cried. I cried. The King of Israel crying
in His bed chambers. But that's what the Lord said.
And when you cry unto me, I'll do it. I'll do it. The Lord bless this word to you.