And I believe I brought a message
from this psalm back in the 80s on television. But we need to look at it again. These are the words, I believe,
of David, the psalmist. It is a Messianic psalm. They
are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll show you. strong
proof of that in a few moments. But I would like to say that
David didn't find these words, which are recorded here in a
book of theology. They're not for the purpose of
argument or debate. There's no dead letter here at
all. And he didn't find these words
in a church creed or catechism. There's no idol ceremony here. And he didn't find these words
in a prayer book or in the back of a hymn book to be used as
a responsive reading. There's no form or pretension
here. These are heart words, evidenced by the first four words,
I love the Lord. I love the Lord. These are heart
words. And many of you, most of you,
I hope all of us, can say with this man, after God's own heart,
I love the Lord. I love the Lord. And that we
can say with the second man, the Lord from heaven, of whom
this scripture speaks also, he said, I love the Lord. I love the Lord. So let's look
at this psalm. You, I trust, will be enabled
to rejoice with me in the mercies of our God. The title of the
message is, Our God is Merciful. and that we can make these words
our own. That's the key to studying the
Scriptures, that they might be so effectually applied to our
hearts by the Holy Spirit that they become my words. I love the Lord. I love the Lord. Paul said to be able to say this,
To be able to say, truly mean, from the heart, I love the Lord. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13,
to be able to say this is better than to speak with the tongues
of men and of angels. Isn't that what he said? Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love,
I'm nothing. So to say, I love the Lord, and
mean it, is better than to speak with the tongues of men and of
angels. And it's better than to know hidden secrets, to prophesy,
and he said, to have faith to move mountains. It's better to
be able to say, I love the Lord. It's better than to give my goods
to feed the poor, and my body to be burned as a martyr. This
is the greatest gift. Now abideth faith, hope, and
love, but the greatest of these. I love the Lord. I love the Lord. This is more than to fear the
Lord. The devils can say, I fear the Lord. They just say, I love the Lord.
This is more than to say, I pray to the Lord, most everybody prays
sometimes to somebody, but he says, I love the Lord. This is
more than to say I serve the Lord, because actually all shall
in some way serve the Lord's purpose and will, even the wicked
in the day of evil. Isn't that what he said? He made
all things for himself. even the wicked for the day of
evil. Pharaoh served the Lord, not willingly, but he did. The
people who crucified our Lord served the Lord. They fulfilled
his will. So to say, I love the Lord, is
the greatest gift and mercy God can possibly gift us. I love
the Lord. I do. Peter, do you love me? Several disciples over there
at that time that he said, Peter, do you love me? That's what David
said here. I love him. I love the Lord. And I love the Lord. I love the
Lord who's revealed in the scriptures. I love the Lord. The Lord is
my shepherd. God the Father who purposed and
planned all things, I love Him. God the Son who came and died
and redeemed the people, effectually, totally, forever, I love Him. The Holy Spirit who called us,
invincibly, irresistibly, I love him. I love the Lord. I love him because he's merciful.
He's not obligated to me, but listen, he heard my voice. He heard my voice. He heard my
cry. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O God. Hear my plea. And he did. Incline thine ear. It says here,
he heard my voice. And my supplications, what are
supplications? Entreaty. My entreaty, my plea. Out of
the depths have I cried unto thee, Lord. Hear my cry. Hear my plea. And he did. And
he inclined, he bent over. Somebody said of one of these,
he bent over. He did more than that. He came
all the way down here. All the way down. To the cesspool,
to the dunghill, to where I was. And lifted me. He inclined. He inclined His ear unto me. Oh, what mercy. Oh, what grace. I love Him. Because He first
loved me. I love the Lord. And then secondly,
the psalmist talks about continuing in that faith. He said in verse
2, Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him
as long as I live. Now to call upon the Lord, hear
me a minute now, to call upon the Lord is not just to ask for
things. is not just to pray for blessings
and mercies and to pray for help and healing and grace and wisdom. To call upon the Lord is to pray. It is to ask. But it's more than
that. It's to praise Him. It's to thank
Him. We're told so many times to let
our supplications be made known with thanksgiving. It's to call
upon the Lord, it's to pray, it's to ask, it's to praise Him,
it's to thank Him, it's to rejoice in Him. It's to know His presence. It's just to feed upon His presence. One of our grandsons, years and
years ago, he's now 22 or 23, but when he was in the first
grade and the second grade and the third grade, His mother worked,
and he spent a lot of time at our house. In fact, every afternoon
when school was out, he walked three blocks from the school
to our house, and his memory kept him until his mother got
off from work. It didn't matter who was there.
I could be there, a guest could be there, anybody else. But when
school was out and he came walking down that hill and opened that
door, every single day, two words came out of his mouth. They never
buried. You know what they were? Make
a guess. Where's Mimi? Doesn't matter
who is that. And I could look at him when
he walked through the door and said, where's Mimi? And I'd say,
did you want something from her? No, I just wanted to make sure
she's here. That's all. Security. Something. Y'all, you ladies know about
that. You children know about that. But that's the call upon
the Lord. Just want to see if he's here.
That's all. Don't need anything right now.
Don't have to need anything to call. Don't have to want anything.
Don't have to really say anything. But because he loves me and because
I love him and because he heard my cry and inclined his ear unto
me and heard my voice, I'm going to call on him as long as I live. He said, I'll never leave them
and they'll never leave me. And then he talks in verse 3
about troubles and sorrows. Down there in verse 3, he says,
I found trouble and sorrow. Now, the one reason I know this
is a measure and a psalm is these words in verse 3. Let me read them to you. The
sorrows of death encompassed me. Pains of hell got hold upon
me. That's more than you and I can
say now, isn't it? I don't know any human beings
that can enter into that, do you? The sorrows of death and the
pains of hell, now that's Christ. That's our Messiah. He was a
man of sorrow. But these words certainly fit
us right here. The next words, I found trouble
and sorrow. In all our days, we don't have
to look for it. We'll find it. We'll find it,
trouble and sorrow. If you don't find it, it'll find
you. In this world, you'll have trouble. In this world, you'll have tribulation. Don't expect this life on earth
to be free from trouble. from unhappiness and sorrow,
it's the lot of every believer. You count it strange if you don't
have trouble and sorrow. Count it not strange, James said,
concerning the fiery trials that come upon you, the sin of God. I found trouble and sorrow all
the days of my life. His goodness and mercy follow
me, we read a while ago, but I'll tell you something else
that's in your pathway, trouble and sorrow. It's a valley of
the shadow of death. That's why you can't make it,
you can't improve it. You just have to leave it when
it comes time. When you came here, it was a
valley of death, and when you leave here, it'll be a valley
of death. And when you walk through it, it'll be a valley of death. Now this is so important, what
I'm about to say. In this walk, as long as I live,
I found trouble and sorrow, and I called upon the name of the
Lord. We talked a while ago about calling
upon him as long as I live. He distinguishes upon whom he
calls. then called I upon the name of
the Lord." It's necessary that God be known of them that call
upon him by his name. Two brothers came to worship
and to call upon the Lord. Scripture said God had respect
to Abel and his offspring, he did not have respect to Cain. Abel called upon the name of
the Lord, Jehovah, God my Savior. Abel knew God in his true redemptive
character through his son, as he is revealed in his word, in
his redemptive glory. through his high priestly work
and his precious blood. And God will only take notice
of him who knows him and honors him and recognizes him by his
name. Do you understand what I'm saying?
That's what he's saying. I hear people say, oh God help
us. Which God? See what he's saying? Oh Lord. Everybody says that. Cain didn't mean the same thing
Abel did. Abel knew Jehovah. Abel knew
the high priest. Abel knew him by his name, redemptive
name. His name in Isaiah 9, 6. Under
us a child is born, under us a son is given. Thou shalt call
his name. The shepherd said Jesus. That's
right, Jesus who? Jesus the Christ. Wonderful! Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the King of Salem,
the High Priest of the Lord, and the government on his shoulders.
Oh Lord, I call by name. Turn to Exodus 34 and listen. Exodus 34, and this is so, this
is one of those missing notes that you do not hear today because
they do not know his name. It's necessary that he be known
of them that call upon him in his true name. Chapter 34 of Exodus. Verse 5,
And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with Moses there,
and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by
before him, and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering house in Christ, through Christ
by his blood, abundant in goodness and truth and keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, but who
will by no means clear the guilty." God doesn't put sin away that's
not paid for, pardon guilt that's not atoned for. He cannot clear
the guilty, not that God. That's the reason when the president
of Southern Baptists years ago said, and I forget his name, Smith, I'm
not sure, anyway, he got the whole media well against him
for saying that God didn't hear a Jew pray. who didn't pray in
the name of Christ. Now you can imagine what that
would do to say that to this day when we've lost our freedom
of speech. They killed him. They crucified
that man. But he was telling the truth. He was telling the truth. If
you call upon the Lord, it's got to be in the name of Christ. That's what he said there in
my text. I call upon the name of the Lord. This is his name. He will by no means clear the
guilt except in the blood. And visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children, upon the children's children,
unto the third and fourth generation. God will be just. And that fourth verse. to reconcile God, who goes by
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the only one we can call
on. And be heard. And I enforce upon you that illustration
of Cain and Abel, both sons of Adam. Both came to worship, both
offered a sacrifice, both built an altar. One God heard, one
He didn't. The difference is the name. Both
used the name God. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Savior. All right. Then called I, verse
4, upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver
my soul. That's my prayer. And He did. Listen. Three things here. Gracious is the Lord. Righteous
is the Lord, and merciful is the Lord. What do you get out
of that? Old Testament's full of the grace
of God. Redemptive work of Christ. Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But here he says in this
fifth verse, gracious is the Lord. The Lord is gracious. For
by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. This shows his goodness. God
is good. Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. He said, I'll make my goodness
pass before you. I will be what? Gracious. Our God is gracious. He's good. Secondly, he's righteous. This
shows his justice. His grace is always ministered
and given in a righteous manner. In Christ he will be just and
justified. And he sent him forth, our Lord
Jesus Christ, to reveal his righteousness. Our God is righteous. And through
Christ we have a righteousness. Let me show you something in
Jeremiah. I believe the first one is in Jeremiah. I'm sorry,
it's not in Jeremiah 31, it's Jeremiah 33. Now you've read the scripture
in Jeremiah where it talks about When the King comes, he'll be
called the Lord, our righteousness? All right, what's what he calls
us in Jeremiah 33, 16? In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, Judah, Zion, the church, the
Lord, our righteousness. That's our name. Our God is gracious. in Christ. Our God is righteous,
and in Christ we're righteous. Now back to the text. In Psalm
116, verse 5, and our God is merciful. Paul said, I obtained
mercy. Goodness, justice, and love.
Gracious, righteous, and merciful. If he were not gracious, I couldn't
expect any hope. If he were not righteous, I could
not expect his holiness to receive me, if he is not merciful. My constant falls would weary
him finally, and he would not hear me." All right, verse 7.
It says here, verse 6, verse 6, "...the Lord preserveth the
simple." Do you know what that word simple is? It's foolish. That's a, "...the Lord preserveth." the foolish. Let me read you
a text over here in Isaiah 66. Isaiah chapter 66, and this one
will bear being underlined and read frequently. In Isaiah 66,
verse 1 and 2, the Lord preserveth the foolish, the simple. I have brought low, and he helpeth
Isaiah 66, 1 and 2, listen. Thus saith the Lord, the heavens
my throne, the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you build
unto me? Where is the place of my rest? All those things hath
my hand made, all those things have been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look,
even to him that is poor. and of a contrite spirit, and
it trembles at my word. That's where I do business. Build the great mansions and
call them churches and big cathedrals. I was watching the funeral of
that Catholic bishop last night. Oh my, the processionals and
the uniforms and the... God said, you build a house for
me? You put all these things up and... Those things all belong to me.
They've always been. Those bricks have always been
in the ground somewhere. And the gold and silver, it has
to. That all belongs to me. But to this man, will I look
at this woman and listen? and fellowship in here. One is poor of a contrite spirit,
foolish and simple, brought low and trembles at my word. All
right, verse 7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. Now that can only be one place,
and that's Christ. He's my rest. Come unto me and
I'll give you rest. The Lord hath dealt bountifully
with us in Christ. There is no other rest when we
are disturbed and troubled and tried and shaken. We always return
to our rest, our resting place. The true believer will not stray
far from the rest, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with me. Now let's look here at verse
8. Lord, thou hast delivered my
soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my
feet from falling. Three most essential things there. See if you can see this. My rest
is Christ. Christ has dealt bountifully
with me, mercifully with me, and he has delivered my soul
from death, my soul from eternal death. My body is going to die,
but my soul won't die. He that believeth in me shall
never die. He has delivered my soul from
death. The curse of the law, the penalty
of sin, the soul that sinneth shall die. The soul that sinneth
shall die. He has delivered my soul from
that judgment, from that death, from that curse. It's already
done. I shall not die. There's no judgment
to them who are in Christ. Right? Alright, secondly. My
eyes from tears. We're gonna cry. We're gonna
weep. But we're not gonna weep as those
who have no hope. Weeping will endure for the night.
Joy comes in the morning. In glory, he said, I'll wipe
away all their tears. See what he's saying here? I'll
wipe away all their tears. Our weeping is for the night. Joy comes in the morning. An unbeliever's weeping is forever. Their tears will never be dry.
You're not going to stop crying as long as you live on this earth.
But I guarantee you when you leave here, you're going to stop
crying. That's right. This happy all the time stuff
is just stuff. There's no substance. He delivered my soul from death,
eternal death, eternal shame. It'll never be put to shame.
And he's going to deliver my eyes from tears someday, not
now. Be thankful you can weep. Be
thankful you got a broken heart. Be thankful that you feel sorrow. Don't ever, don't ever try not
to cry. Dry eyes and cold hearts are
damning conditions. But someday, he said, I'll wipe
all tears from their eyes. Not now, Cecil, is it? Not now. Then. That's when he'll wipe
them away. And then he's going to keep my
feet from falling. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to expose. That soul,
though all hell, should endeavor to shake. I'll never, no never,
no never forsake. He'll keep me. Now unto him is
able to keep us from falling. That's what he said, isn't it?
my feet from falling. That's the three things I need. My soul, my body is going to
die. It's a dying body. It's a dying
day. It's a dying flesh. But He's
going to deliver my soul from ever dying. And my tears, He's
going to deliver my eyes from tears someday. I'm not going
to weep for eternity. I'm going to rejoice for eternity. Some people are going to weep
forever. We weep for the night, joy, indescribable joy, and I'll
never fall so as not to be recovered. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. That's right. All right, verse
10, let me show you this. He talks about the foundation
of faith and foundation of our confession. I believe. What do you believe? I believe
God's word. Therefore have I spoken. I believe. What do you believe?
I believe God. Therefore have I spoken. I believe. What do you believe? I believe
God can do everything he promised. Therefore I'm speaking. That is the prerequisite for
any kind of confession that's honoring to God, or glorifying
to God, or any kind of preaching that God will use. You've got
to, like Brother Barnard used to always say, you can't tell
what you don't know anymore, and you can come back where you
hadn't been. And this is, David said, the
foundation of my faith is I believe. Believe God. Foundation of Abraham's
faith. He believed God. Let me show
you a scripture that illustrates this in Acts 27. Acts 27, Paul
was on board that ship, and there wasn't anybody on that ship that
believed that they had a prayer but Paul. There wasn't anybody
on that ship that believed that they were going to escape with
their lives but Paul. Why did he believe it? Well,
listen. Verse 22, Acts 27, And now I
exhort you to be of good cheer. This wasn't a time for cheer,
they didn't think. There shall be no loss of any
man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by
me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
saying, Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar.
And, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God. It shall be
even as it was told me." That's faith. And that's the very foundation
of our preaching, our confession, of our faith, of our hope. I
believe. Therefore, I speak. And I said
in my haste, all men are liars. And I read several things on
that today, and you'll probably read some more things on it,
too, and you'll find that some people say, well, what David
is saying is I was too hasty. Maybe some of them aren't liars,
but Paul said this. He said, all have sinned and
come short of God's glory, so then all are liars. If everybody's
sinned, then everybody's a liar. Anybody not a liar, he's not
a sinner. And then Paul said this, let God be true and truth,
every man a liar. So whether you say it in haste,
or whether you say it slowly, or whether you think about it
a week or two, we're all still liars. And what we're saying
is, let God be true, I believe God. and let everybody else be
alive. Now what shall I render unto
the Lord for all his benefits toward me? What shall I render? Well, what shall my response
be to all this? Blessings and mercies. Well,
I will believe, verse 13, I'll take the cup of salvation. I'll call upon the name of the
Lord I'll pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all
his people. I'll keep my commitment. I'll
keep my word. Come back to verse 15 later.
Oh, Lord, truly I am your servant. I am your servant. I'm the son
of your handmaid. You've loosed my bond, so I'll
offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I'm going to thank
God. I'm going to praise God. I'm
going to call on the name of the Lord. I'm going to pray my
vows unto the Lord now in the presence of His people, in the
courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of the old Jerusalem,
will praise ye the Lord." That's what I'm going to do. That's for me and my house. Joshua said, I don't know about
all these other Israelites, but I'll tell you about me and my
house. We're going to serve the Lord. And you men, let me tell you,
you fathers, and I thank God for moms. You know,
Paul said to Timothy, from a child you've known the Holy Scriptures
that are able to make you wise unto salvation. And you heard
it from your grandmother and your mother. And God bless our
dear grandmothers and mothers and daughters. And they're so
vital and essential in the kingdom of God. I believe the greater responsibility
for the direction of a house lies right here on these shoulders,
the man. I do. I believe it lies on our
shoulders. I believe we're supposed to be
the ones that say with Joshua of old, I can speak for my house. I'm going to speak for it. And
when I cease to speak for it, somebody's going to abdicate
because I'm going to speak again. I'm the head of my house, and
I'm going to speak for him. We're going to serve the Lord.
That's my response. That's what he says. I'm going
to pay my vows. I'm going to call on the Lord.
I'm going to serve the Lord. That's just it. That's my response.
All right. Verse 15 now, he talks about
his death. And then I'll close. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Now I know why death is precious
to the believer, because it's gain. To die is gain. To die is to go be with the Lord.
But he says here that the death of a believer is precious in
the sight of the Lord. What does he mean? Well, the
first reason Why the death of the believer is precious in the
sight of the Lord is because they're precious to him. They
are precious to him. And he delights and desires for
them to be with him. That's why it's precious. They're
precious. You know, if a son is in a foreign country, And
he makes friends over there. And they get pretty close. They've
lived over there a year or two, three years maybe, and make friends.
And he comes home. But his coming home is more precious
to his father than he is to them. Isn't he? Much more precious to the father
for that boy to come home than for him to stay with those people
that he's friendly with. That's the first. Secondly, because
he redeemed them with precious blood. They're his jewels. They're his gems. They're valuable
to him. They're precious. Precious to
him. I don't have many things, any
earthly possessions that I would call precious in the way of of mementos and
those things. I got a lot of people who are
precious, but as far as... I hear people talk about precious
stones and precious jewels, you know, that... But we are God's jewels, redeemed
with the blood of His Son. We're precious to Him. He's not
gonna let anything happen to us. He's gonna protect us and
then take us home. And thirdly, Their death is precious
to him because he removes them from a world of sin and takes
them to the world of glory. That's precious to him. When
they leave this, he takes them from the dunghill and sets them
among princes. And then fourthly, their death
is precious because the goal of his covenant, what did David
say? I'll be satisfied when I wake
with his likeness. He'll be satisfied with me when
I wake with his light. See, that's why their death is
precious. Now, they're where he, from all
eternity, designed them to be. Finished. In the image of Christ. And then, next, their death is
precious because the Lord sees a lot differently from the way
we see things. We say blessed are the rich,
blessed are the healthy, blessed are the strong. I hear people
say, well, if a man's got his health, he's got everything. No, sir, if a man is dead and
with the Lord, he's got everything. The Lord says, blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord. Now that's really somebody's
blessing. And I know that's difficult for us, you know. Our loved ones
die, the Lord takes them home, and it's pretty hard to use the
word precious, is their death. It's pretty difficult. It's almost
impossible. It is impossible. Because we
don't see like He sees. We're earthbound. But he sees
things totally different. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
And for a believer to be taken out of this world and taken into
his presence, that's the most wonderful thing that could happen
to us. It's indescribable. It's unspeakable. And he says, that's precious.
Precious. Precious in the eyes of the Lord. And you know, if I were to have
a heart attack and drop dead right now up here, my wife and
my granddaughter and my loved ones here and friends would just,
you'd be just shocked beyond imagination. You'd just, you'd
hurt, you'd cry. Who's going to be our pastor?
Who's going to be my husband? Who's going to be my granddaddy?
What am I going to do? But man, I'll be so happy. Like
Charlie Payne said before he left us the last time, don't,
please don't cry for me. I'm going to be, but I'm going
to still cry because I don't, I can't, and this has to wait
a while before I can enter into that understanding. You understand
what I'm saying? Let's be honest. Don't pretend. You can't pretend in this thing.
Our death is precious to him because he doesn't think like
we do. But thank God someday we will
think like he thinks. when that death comes.