Okay, this evening, Lord willing,
we're going to take a look at Psalm 116. Psalm 116. And I'm entitling the message
from the words found in verse 5. Gracious is the Lord. All grace is from the Lord. Salvation is by the grace of
the Lord. Gracious is the Lord, and our
God is righteous. Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our Lord is gracious. Our Lord is righteous. Yea, our
God is merciful. Our God delights to show mercy. He's gracious, he's righteous,
and he's merciful. He's our God. He's our Savior. Our God is merciful. We're not
left in the dark. or in ignorance about the God
of Holy Scripture. He's given this whole book to
us to describe Himself, all 66 books. They tell us about who
He is, the God of Scripture, God who is God. He plainly describes
Himself unto us. God is holy. Turn over here to
Psalm 99, back a few pages. Psalm 99, I believe it is verse
1. Our God is holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty. Psalm 99 verse 1, the Lord reigneth. There's the sovereignty of God.
Let the people tremble. He sits between the cherubim.
Let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion. He's
high above all people. Let them praise that great and
terrible name for it is holy. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. You remember we studied in Revelation
4 which was and is and is to come. Lord God Almighty. He is the holy God. Also, God
is love. God is love. No doubt about that. God is good. We've seen that
in scripture many times. God is light. God is true. Our God is merciful, almighty. Our God is sovereign, absolutely
so, in all things. He's sovereign. Sovereign over
all things. Whatsoever the Lord is pleased
to do, that's what He does. He's sovereign in mercy. He's
sovereign in salvation. Sovereign in creation. Sovereign
in all things. And He is merciful. His mercy
is sovereign mercy. Has to be, because it's of God.
God is sovereign. Everything that comes from Him
is sovereign. His love is sovereign. His grace is sovereign. His mercy
is sovereign. We read in Micah 7.18 that God
delights to show mercy. He delights in showing mercy.
Look right across the page, we looked at this last week, Psalm
118, verse 1. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good, because his mercy endures forever. We need everlasting
salvation. We need everlasting mercy. It
endures forever. God is sovereign in all his ways. He will have mercy on whom he
will. Our Lord said, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy, Romans 9. But
let us not forget, God will have mercy on whom he will, and he
will be gracious to whom he will, and he'll pass by whom he will. The Lord passed by before me
and proclaimed before Moses, the Lord God, the Lord God merciful,
gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth. That's
his description of himself. Our God is God. Beside him there
is no other God. Now this psalm, Psalm 116, has
no title given to it. This psalm has no name put to
it. It doesn't say it's the psalm
of David or anyone else. Most think that David penned
the words of this psalm, but we can be confident of this.
Those words recorded in all the Word of God are words given by
God to His people, and we read it as such. We receive them as
such and believe them as such. I had a phone call some time
back, and a person asked me, who wrote Psalm 119? I said,
well, God did. He wrote all the Word of God,
all scriptures given of God. We receive this as the word of
truth, not as the word of men. All the scripture is given of
God. Doesn't matter if we read in
the Revelation or in the Book of Genesis. All scripture is
given of God. Holy men of old spake as they
were moved by God the Holy Spirit. All scripture is given by God's
inspiration and it's profitable. It is profitable unto us. There are two verses in Psalm
116 that are very well known. One of them is found in verse
10 that David writes here, but the Apostle Paul picks it up.
In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 13, I believe, therefore have I spoken,
and I was greatly afflicted. You're going to believe, you're
going to, if you're a believer and a preacher of the gospel,
you're going to preach what you believe and what you believe
is the truth. And we preach the truth, and
it's the truth that sets sinners free. And the other well-known
verse is verse 15. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. I think every funeral that I
have preached over the last 35 years or so, I probably have
made reference to that verse. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Now, it breaks our heart to say
goodbye to our dear loved ones, But we must always remember it's
the will of the Lord, and it's good in His sight, and it's precious
in His sight. Precious in His sight. We'll
come back and look at verse 15 a little bit closer. As you look
at this whole Psalm, We look at this whole psalm and
pray the Lord will be our teacher. And one of the things I've noticed
in this psalm, it's repeated several times, and I tried to
point it out to you in the reading, is calling upon the name of the
Lord. Calling upon the name of the
Lord. Look at verse two. Because he hath inclined his
ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. In verse 4 he mentions this again,
Then called I upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech Thee,
deliver my soul. Again in verse 13 he says, I'll
take the cup of salvation. I'll take it, it's a free gift
of God. I'll take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. Again in verse 17, I will
offer to Thee The sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I'll call upon
the name of the Lord. That's a call out of need. It's a call out of gratitude.
It's calling upon God in a way of prayer. What a privilege. Think about it. God has given
unto us. You figure how high and how holy
and how sovereign and majestic is almighty God, and yet he says
to his children, call upon me and I'll answer thee. That ought
to encourage us to call upon the name of the Lord. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm gonna call. I'm gonna keep
on calling upon the name of the Lord. Now let's look at verse
one and two. I love the Lord. Boy, that's a big statement,
isn't it? David, if he is the writer of
this, out of a heart of love and gratitude, We love the Lord
only because he first loved us. David, a man after God's own
heart, said, I love the Lord. Now, he's not bragging. This
is not a boastful brag. It's just stating the sincere
heart belief of every believer. This is our testimony. We do
love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplication. He has inclined his ear unto
me. Therefore, will I call upon him as long as I live. Believers
do love the Lord Jesus Christ. Now by the faith, hope, and love,
and the greatest of these is love. One day faith will end
in sight, hope will end in reality, but love will just keep growing
and growing and growing. We'll sing unto Him who loved
us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. You remember
when the Lord and Peter had that conversation, And Peter finally
said, Lord, you know all things. You know. Peter, do you love
me? Yes, Lord. Peter, really, do
you love me? And Peter said finally, Lord,
you know all things. You know. You know that I love
thee. Now, by nature, that's not true.
By nature, we love darkness, not light. It's only by his grace
that we love the Lord. And we do, as believers, we do
love him. not as we should, not as we will
one day, but we do love him because he has first loved us. And because
he has first loved us, and because that love of God is shed abroad
in our heart, we can say not in a boastful way, but in a humble
way, I love the Lord. I love his word. I love his way. I love his salvation. I love
his redemption. I love everything about him.
To you who believe, he is precious. He's altogether lovely, lovely. And because we love him, we love
his people, his family, his elect. Because we love the Lord, because
he heard the cry of our heart, Therefore, what do we do? We
call upon Him. We call upon Him. This is the spontaneous will and act
of a heart regenerated by the Spirit of God. We don't have
to say, well, okay, it's 8 o'clock in the morning, now I'm going
to call upon the Lord. And then say, well, okay, now it's 12
o'clock, it's time to call upon the name of the Lord. It's not
something that's regimented and scheduled. We as believers have
a constant cry in our heart as unto the Lord, don't we? Continually,
it says here, as long as I live, in my days, the days of faith,
walking in faith, what do we do? We call upon the name of
the Lord. We're mindful of Him. Rejoice
in the Lord always. Pray without ceasing. In everything
give thanks. We do call upon the name of the
Lord. Driving the car, working on the
job, cooking in the kitchen, wherever it may be. We do call
upon the name of the Lord at all times. And then he mentions
verse 3 and verse 4. One of the reasons that we do
call upon the Lord as long as we live or the days of our life,
the sorrows of death compass me. And the pains of the grave,
that word hell, there is grave. The pains of the grave, they
found me. It's a marginal reference. They
found me. And I found trouble and I found
sorrow. Then, look at verse four. Then,
oh, I called upon the name of the Lord. When you're in trouble,
what do you do? What do little boys and girls
do when they get in trouble? they call upon the one who can
help them. And that's what God's children
do when they're surrounded with death. You know, death is all
around us. It's in us. It's about us. We're all dying creatures. The
hillsides in Kentucky are full of graveyards. Death, all around
us. The sorrows of death encompass
around me. The pains of the grave, They
found me, and I found trouble, and I found sorrow. Then I call
upon the Lord, the name of the Lord. Remember that name we read,
gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness. I beseech thee,
O Lord, here's what we need. Deliver my soul. Deliver my soul. Deliver me. The believer is not
exempt from the realities of the trials of
the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man
mediator, is called in Scripture the man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. He knew, he was tempted and tested
in all points like as we are yet without sin. Man that's born
of woman, few days and full of trouble. Haven't you found that
to be so? Trouble, trouble, trouble. Our Lord said, these words have
I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace, but in
this world you shall have trouble. Ah, they said, be of good cheer.
I have overcome. That's our hope. You see what
he's saying there? Oh, Lord, I beseech thee, deliver
my soul. And he has. He delivered us. We're going to see that statement
again down through here somewhere. where He has delivered our soul.
He's delivered us from the curse and condemnation of the law,
hasn't He? Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. That's
being delivered from the curse of the law. What does the law
demand of us? Perfection. What can we render
unto the law? Nothing but guilt. Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law. He has delivered our
soul. from the guilt, from the bondage of the law, from the
guilt of sin, from the condemnation of the law, from the guilt of
sin, having put away our sin, he delivered us. That word redemption
is deliver, in whom we have redemption, deliverance. I like that scripture
over in Romans 11, which says, the Deliverer, capital D, the
Deliverer shall deliver all his people. He delivers all of them
successfully. He is the Redeemer who redeems,
the Savior who saves. Look at verse 5. Gracious is
the Lord. Now He saves us by His grace. Sovereign grace. God is gracious. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God. David found the Lord to be gracious. We can say with the Apostle Paul,
by the grace of God, by the grace of God, I am what I am. The Lord is gracious. Gracious
is the Lord. Our God is righteous. I love
that scripture there in Romans 5 where it says grace reigns
through righteousness. Grace of God reigns through the
righteousness established by the Lord Jesus Christ, and freely
imputed unto his people. Grace reigns through righteousness,
that's sovereign grace. Yea, he says, our God is merciful. You see, it's of the Lord's mercies
that we're not consumed. What's the difference between
grace and mercy? Grace is God giving us what we
do not deserve, Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve.
That's a pretty good definition. Yea, our God, He is merciful. Look right across the page, Psalm
117. You see that short little Psalm?
Oh, praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you
people, for his merciful kindness is great toward us. And the truth
of the Lord endureth forever. Now, praise you, the Lord. But
God, God who is rich in mercy for his great love with which
he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, has quickened us
together with Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, raised us up together,
made us to sit together in the heavenly, in the Lord Jesus Christ, Our God is merciful. Look at
verse six. The Lord preserveth. He preserveth
the simple. Now, I'm simple. I'm a simple
man. The Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low. He brought
me low. He brought me low. He's neither
of a broken heart, Save us such as be of a contrite spirit. You
remember Psalm 34? The Lord preserveth. We are kept
by the power of God. He saves us. When he saves us,
he saves us with an everlasting salvation. The Lord preserveth
the simple. That word simple, I looked it
up. It means silly and foolish. Turn to Psalm 19. I've got this written down here.
Psalm 19, verse 7. Let's see what that says. I like this, Psalm 19, verse
7. That's a good reference here on that verse. I believe that,
yeah, it gives it there in a marginal reference. But look at Psalm
19, verse 7. The law of the Lord, the word
of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. The testimony of the
Lord is sure making wise the simple. He's our wisdom. He takes simple, ignorant, foolish
sinners and gives them the wisdom of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I like that. He preserves his
people. They do persevere. They do persevere
in faith. But we're kept by the power of
God. He keeps us from falling and presents us thoughtless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. The Lord preserveth
His people. I was brought low. He stripped
me and then He lifted me. He stripped me and then He clothed
me. He broke me and then He healed me. He killed me and then He
gave me life. Now, verse 7, return. Return
unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with me. Now, whenever I read about the
rest, return unto thy rest, O my soul, my soul's been delivered. Now, rest, rest. Now, what verse do you think
of when you think of rest? You remember? Matthew 11, 28,
our Lord said, all you who are laboring and heavy laden, come
unto me, come unto me and I'll give you rest. Rest for your
soul. And I, thinking about that scripture,
don't turn, let me just read this to you. I think about this
scripture, about rest, and this scripture came to mind. In Hebrews
4, verse 9, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God,
For he that is entered into his rest, he is also ceased from
his own works as God did. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. Let us rest in Christ. You see,
we don't, back under the law, God said six days, you work,
and on the seventh, you rest. There was a Sabbath rest in that
law, but we don't observe a day of Sabbath rest. We look to Christ
who is our Sabbath, who is our rest. We rest in Him. We rest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rest, my soul. Now, watch this. The Lord hath dealt bountifully,
wonderfully with me. And here's a reference. Turn
to this one. I thought of this in Psalm 103. Look at verse 10.
Psalm 103, verse 10. Where it says, the Lord hath
dealt bountifully with me. Here's how He's dealt with us. Look at Psalm 103, verse 8. The
Lord is merciful and gracious. Oh, there it is again. Slow to
anger, plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after
our sin, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For the heaven
is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that
fear Him. As far as the east and the west, so far hath He
removed our transgression from us. He dealt with us in grace
and mercy in our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't
deal with us after our sin. He dealt with our substitute.
being made sin for us. And He put away our sin as far
as the east is from the west. That's the west, that's the east.
That's the third piece. Forever He put away our sin. So much so that He said their
sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. Now verse 8, here again
He says, Thou hast delivered my soul from death, my eyes from
tears, and my feet from falling. That's deliverance. That's deliverance
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou hast delivered my soul from
death. Our Lord said, I am he that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore.
And then He said, because I live, you shall live also. My eyes from tears. God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes, there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21. He delivered my soul from death. The Lord Jesus Christ took our
sin, took our death, and gives us His life. My eyes from tears
and my feet from falling, He sets us in the narrow way upon
the solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't put us in
quicksand or in a stumbling. He's not a stumbling block to
us. He keeps us from falling. He keeps us from falling. Jude
1.24, remember? He's able to keep them and present
them thoughtless before the presence of God's glory with exceeding
joy. Look at verse 9. I will walk. I will, by His grace,
walk before the Lord in the land of the living. In the land of
the living. You remember Psalm 37, the steps
of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord. I will walk before
the Lord. There's nowhere you go, or where
I go, or where any believer goes, that we don't walk with the Lord.
It's a walk of faith. Seeing our feet have been delivered
from falling and established on Christ the solid rock, therefore
our desire is now to walk and live as unto the Lord. Remember,
we walk by faith, not by sight. In the book of Colossians, we
read, "...as you therefore received the Lord Jesus Christ, so walk
ye in Him." Walk! That's our walk. That's the tenor
of our life. The banner of our will. Looking
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a walk of faith. Verse 10,
"...I believed." Boy, that's a miracle. To say, as it says
in verse 1, "...I loved the Lord." And then verse 10, verse 9, I
will walk before the Lord. Verse 10, I believed, therefore
have I spoken, and I was greatly, greatly afflicted. We believe
only by His power. What does it take to cause a
believer to cause a sinner to believe the gospel, the power
of God. We believe only according to
the working of His mighty power. I believe by His grace, therefore,
I've spoken. What do we speak? And what's
our testimony? Salvation of the Lord. I believe,
therefore, have I spoken. And if you take a bold stand
for the gospel, uncompromising stand for the gospel publicly,
you'll have some affliction. You'll have some affliction.
Therefore we speak. The Apostle Paul quotes this
in 2 Corinthians 4. We have the same spirit of faith
according as it is written. I believe, therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore
we speak. We preach what we believe. We
really do preach what we believe. We believe that salvation is
of the Lord, salvation by God's sovereign grace. We believe that
and that's what we preach. We preach the word of the Lord.
Therefore we speak that we do know. What do we know? Salvation
is of the Lord. You remember 1 John 1 verse 3
said, that which we've seen and heard and believe, we declare
it unto you. We believe his word and with
boldness of faith, we speak what he has said, regardless of the
consequences of what someone may think, regardless of the
afflictions that may come. You remember in the book of Acts
how many times the apostles were arrested and beaten and commanded
never to mention the name Jesus Christ anymore. And they left
that council and went out publicly and privately preaching the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he said, we can't but speak
the thing that we've heard and seen. He has said, so that we may boldly
say. We don't preach to please men.
We preach, thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. I was greatly
afflicted, I speak God's truth, and here's what he said. Verse
11, I said in my haste, and that word means quickly. He's not
hastily or haphazardly saying that all men are sinners. But
when we believe the truth and speak the truth, we have to tell
the truth about God. He's holy. We have to tell the
truth about man. What? Just the opposite. He's
a sinner. All men are liars. Oh, wait a
minute. You mean I'm a liar? All men
are liars. Does that offend you? What do
we speak about men? All men are sinners. All men
go forth from the womb speaking lies. All men, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. In Romans 3 verse 4 it says,
let God be true and every man a liar. Man in his best state is altogether
vanity. What do we say? All men are sinners. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Verse 12, what shall I render? then unto the Lord." Seeing I'm
a sinner, seeing I'm lost in Adam, dead in sin, guilty before
God, He's made me to believe the gospel and to love the gospel.
What shall I render unto the Lord for all of His blessings
unto me? All His blessings toward me,
what shall I give? Everything. I will take, verse
13, I'll take the cup of salvation And I'll call upon the name of
the Lord, verse 14, I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in
the presence of all His people. I will take the cup of blessing,
the cup of salvation, Notice he says here that I'll
take the cup. He doesn't say I'm going to work
for the cup of salvation, or I'm going to merit the cup of
salvation, or buy the cup of salvation. He said I'm going
to take it. You know why we take it? Because it's a free gift
of God. I'll call upon the name of the
Lord. I'll take the cup of salvation. It's a free gift of life. Remember over here, don't turn.
Let me see if I can find it for you. Over here in the Revelation,
when the book closes, we're going to see this in our study. I,
Jesus, have sent my angel to testify unto you the things in
the churches. I am the root and offspring of
David, the bright and morning star, and the spirit and the
bride. Say, come, and let him that heareth
say, come, and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever
will let him take of the water of life freely. Freely. It's a gift of God. justified
freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in the
Lord Jesus Christ, God who spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also? Freely,
I like that word, don't you? Freely give us all things. What
shall I render unto the Lord for all His blessings to me? He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, We have benefits. Everybody's looking for a job
that has good benefits. And some jobs have more than
others. But with the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the best benefit
package. All salvation now and glory forever. All grace now and glory forever.
I'll take the cup of salvation. I'll call upon the name of the
Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence
of mine enemies. He says that twice in verse 18.
Look at verse 18. I'll pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of His people. His people. Now, I thought of
this scripture. A story about Jonah. You remember
the story of Jonah. Now, he was on that ship running
from God. And God sent a storm. And God
sent a fish and swallowed Jonah up. And he spent three days in
that fish's belly. And he said, I'll pay, I will
sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I'll pay
that I have vowed salvations of the Lord. That's what we vow. That's what, and when Jonah vowed
that vow, confessing salvations, all of God's grace, what'd that
fish do? Vomited his hem out on the dry ground. Oh, I bet
he was happy. I can imagine being in a fish's
belly for three days. Wow. Let's skip verse 15 for just
a minute and I'll come back to it. Verse 16, O Lord, truly I
am Thy servant, I am Thy servant, a bond-servant unto the Lord,
a servant out of love, the Son of Thy Handmaid. Thou hast loosed
my bonds, and fastened liberty wherewith Christ has set us free.
I offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I'll call upon
the name of the Lord. The sacrifice of thanksgiving
is praising the Lord. Praising the Lord. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit
of our lips, giving thanks unto His name. I will offer to thee
the sacrifice of thanksgiving." We don't bring a blood sacrifice,
but we do bring a sacrifice of thanksgiving. And I'll call upon
the name of the Lord. Verse 19, in the courts of the
Lord's house, in the midst of the Lord's city, I'll praise the Lord. Now look
back at verse 15, and I'll let you go. Precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of His saints. This is a precious thing. You
remember our Lord prayed in John 17, Father I will that they also
whom thou has given me be with me where I am that they may behold
my glory which thou has given me for thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. Every time a believer dies that
prayer is answered. Father I will that they also
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory." Revelation 14 said, blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord. Why is death called precious?
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
They're redeemed with his precious blood. The apostle said, for me to live
is Christ, to die is gain. For I am in straight between
two, having the desire to depart and be with the Lord, which is
far better. That's precious, isn't it? For
believers to live is Christ, but to die is gain. Death to
the believer is not punishment, it's not loss, it's promotion.
It's promotion. You're just promoting me. To be absent from the bodies
to be present with the Lord. Now think about this. I thought
about this. The death of a believer is precious
in the sight of the Lord. But just think about this. Just
think about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. How precious
was that in the sight of the Lord? Oh, my. Talking about something
totally different now, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, how
precious and powerful and prevailing that is to satisfy all God-defended
justice, to put away all our sin, to glorify the Lord Jesus
Christ, to glorify the Father and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is precious in His sight.