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A Study in Psalms - Psalm 116 · CCC West Covina

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Let's read Psalm 116 tonight. Psalm 116.
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Originally it wasn't going to cover this Psalm, but when I
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read it, it just jumped off the pages, especially the 1st 4
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words which is the title of our hope You have an outline
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tonight. I love the Lord, but Psalm 116 I
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love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my pleas for
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mercy because He inclined His ear to me.
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Therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.
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The snares of death encompass me.
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The pangs of she hole laid hold of me.
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I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the
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Lord. O Lord, I pray deliver my soul.
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Gracious is the Lord and righteous.
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Our God is merciful. The Lord preserves this simple
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When I was brought low, He saved me.
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Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt
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bountifully with you, for you have delivered my soul from
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death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
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I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
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I believed even when I spoke. I am greatly afflicted.
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I set in my alarm. All mankind are liars.
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What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me?
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I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name
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of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord
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in the presence of all His people.
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Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints.
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Oh Lord, I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of
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your maidservant. You have loosened my bonds.
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I will offer to you the sacrifice of Thanksgiving and
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call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord
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in the presence of all his people in the courts of the
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House of the Lord. In your mist, O Jerusalem,
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praise the Lord. Father, thank you that we can
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look at Psalm 116 tonight. And Father, we do love you, but
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we know that you first loved us and sent Jesus your Son to die
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on the cross for our sins. And only because of that, the
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transformation from old and new that we have love that we can
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love. May we leave here tonight
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sharing that love of Christ with friends, with family, with
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neighbors, in Jesus Christ name, Amen.
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Our Psalm begins with four great words.
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I love the Lord. If you were to write a Psalm,
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you will write a Psalm. And you began with those words.
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What would you say? I love the Lord Because.
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Because what? Because he loved you first.
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Maybe somebody would say he saved me from my sins by sending
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his Son to die on the cross and take away my sins and give me
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forgiveness and eternal life. What else would you say the I
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love the Lord for? You might say I didn't hear his
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grace. OK, what about godly parents?
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I think that's probably the second greatest gift that I ever
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had other than salvation was that God gave me parents who
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modeled and showed the way. That's that's just a great gift.
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He gave me Christ Community Church that supported me and my
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wife for 18 years on the mission field and I still get to come
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here and work here. He gave me Pastor Lance to teach
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me and godly men through that time.
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He gave me a beautiful wife. I've been married for 23 years.
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He gave me a beautiful daughter, Tessa.
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He gave me wonderful places to live, hospitals that I could go
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to when sick, when many people don't have that security and
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safety, food, shelter, clothing. I could go on and on and on.
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I love the Lord because He's done so much for me.
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You notice there was no superscription at the top of
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this Psalm. Of the 150 psalms, there are 34
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like this one that have no superscription Psalms. 116 is
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the 4th Psalm in what's commonly called the Egyptian Halal
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Psalms. 113114115116117186OF them are called the Egyptian
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Halal Psalms and they're recited at Jewish festivals.
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Of course the Passover would be the big one and they recite
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these sing them during Passover to express gratitude and praise
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to the Lord. These psalms are called the
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Egyptian hell because they celebrate Israelites exit from
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Egypt and halal means praise. So during Passover they would
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sing Psalm 113 and 114 before the Passover meal and then they
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would sing Psalm 115 to 118 following the last cup of wine.
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So it's likely that our Lord Jesus Christ sang this Psalm
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that we're looking at tonight with the other 5 the night
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before he went to a cross. Matthew 2630 says after singing
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a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
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That would have been Psalms 115 to 118.
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Think of the irony though. Our Psalm is about a man who was
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near death. He was about to die.
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You'll see the graphic language. He was near death and yet God
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rescued him. So Jesus is singing this song on
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the night before he's going to go to the garden, the night
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before he's going to be betrayed, and the night before
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he'd be executed on the cross. So the Psalm is about a man who
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got rescued, but Jesus own father would not rescue him the
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next morning. In fact, He would abandoned him
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on the cross when the wrath of God was poured out on him.
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When Jesus was on the cross. G Campbell Morgan said, Whatever
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the local circumstances which gave rise to this song, it's
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evident that in all its rich meaning was fulfilled when in
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the midst of that little company of perplexed souls, the shadows
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of one death already on him, Jesus sang this song, a
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prophetic triumph over the sharpness of the hour of passion
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to which He was passing. He has made it over to all his
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own as their triumph song over death.
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Say I love you and then I will. J Vernon McGee says that it's a
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love song because God swallowed death in victory.
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The type of Psalm we're finishing tonight is the
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Thanksgiving Psalm. This psalmist is thankful that
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God spared his life, that God rescued him from death.
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So let's look at at at our outline tonight.
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We have 4 simple points, His danger verses one to four, His
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deliverer verse 5 to 9, his devotion verses 10 to 14, and
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his delight in verses 515 to 19. So first obvious danger and
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number. Some point says I love the Lord,
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verses 1 and 2 and I just love how it begins.
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I love the Lord. Our Psalm begins with a personal
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pronoun I-1 of 18 times. In my ESV translation there's
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only 19 verses, 18 times he says I.
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So you notice it's a very personal Psalm right off the
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bat. Me is mentioned 7 times and my
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is mentioned 9 times. So you see how it's just a
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beautiful personal Psalm which captures the soul.
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It's the only Psalm of the 150 to begin with the words I love
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the Lord. Now Psalms 18 which has a lot of
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familiar themes with Psalm 116, Psalms 18, one says I love you,
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O Lord, my strength. Psalms 3123 says Love the Lord,
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all you Saints, but this is the only Psalm that begins with
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those first 4 words. The psalmist uses the name of
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God here as Yahweh and he's going to use it 16 times in
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these 19 verses. That's the covenant name of God.
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I love the Lord because of answered prayer was the catalyst
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for the psalmist love. And when God answers our
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prayers, it reinforces our love for Him.
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How can the psalmist say these four precious words?
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How can we even mutter these precious words?
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It's only because God first loved us, right?
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And you know the verse I think Lance managed on Sunday first,
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John 419 says we love because he first loved us.
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He says I love the Lord for two reasons, because he heard my
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voice and because he inclined his ear.
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He says because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
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God answers our prayers. They may be no, they may be wait
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and hopefully they're yes. But God is a compassionate,
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merciful God wanting to hear our cries and our prayers.
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It says because he inclined his ear.
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Now we've talked about that a lot lately, haven't we?
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We looked at Psalms 86 one and said God inclined his ear.
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Psalms 1O2 last week inclined your ear to me 15 times in the
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Psalms it says that and this is the third one that we've looked
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at. So he asked God to call upon
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some point to I will call upon the Lord.
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The last part of verse 2. He says therefore I will call on
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him as long as I live. When you go to Bible school or
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seminary, they always tell you when you see a therefore in the
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Bible, you should ask ourselves what is the therefore their
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space FOR? What's it there for?
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Well, the therefore you always go back to verse one.
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And it's because God heard his cry and God inclined his ear to
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him because he heard me, because he inclined his ear to me,
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because he answered my prayer. I will continue to pray to him
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all my life, says the psalmist. Next he says I came near to
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death. He says the snares of death
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encompass me, the pangs of she hole laid hold of me.
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I suffered distress and anguish almost the same as Psalms 18,
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which I said is familiar with Psalms 116.
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Psalms 18, verse 4 to 5 says the cords of death encompass me, the
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torrents of destruction assailed me, the cords of she hole
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entangled me, and the snares of death confronted me.
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So the psalmist feels like he's trapped in a life threatening
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situation and he's suffering a near death experience and only
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God can bail him out and help him.
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So verse four he says I called upon the Lord, then I called
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upon the Lord. O Lord, I pray deliver my soul.
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Notice in this Psalm 4 times in the 19 verses the psalmist calls
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on the Lord verse 2. I will call on him verse 4 which
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I just read. Then I called on the name of the
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Lord verse 13, and call on the name of the Lord, verse 17 and
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call on the name of the Lord. This psalmist was in love with
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the Lord, and because God rescued him, he's going to
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continue to call upon the name of the Lord.
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You know, one of my goals, as many you know, is to get
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everybody in our church to read 1 Psalm a day.
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And if you do that for one year, you'll have read through the
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Psalms 2 1/2 times in one year. And the first time you read some
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psalms, like Latin, we looked at Psalm 79.
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Some of them were hard, but most of them were easy.
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But the more you read it after year 2, after year 3, after 3-4,
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especially if you have a journal where you have a book like I
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gave Bill, those books can help us.
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And Diedrich Bond Offer said, the more deeply we grow in the
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Psalms, the more often we pray them as our own, the more simple
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and rich our prayers become. This is the central theme of
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Psalm 116. The all sufficient grace of God
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to help believers in their weakness.
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This Psalm testifies to the strength of God manifest in the
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psalmist when he had no power to deliver himself.
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The psalmist was so I'll that he thought he was about to die.
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There was absolutely nothing he could do save his own life.
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In fact, there was nothing anyone could do to help him.
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If he were to be helped, his help would have to come from
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God. When commentator said there's an
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old hymn that says Abide with me written in 1947 by Henry Lyle
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and it says one of the same says when other helpers fail and
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comforters flee, help of the helpless, abide with me.
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That is what God is, the help of the helpless.
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Let's look at sub point #2 His deliverer.
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And the Lord is his savior, and the Lord is deliverer.
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First off, the Lord is his savior.
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Once again, the Psalms are going to teach us about God and His
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attributes, and it lists three of them right there.
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He says #1 He is gracious. It says gracious is the Lord,
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just like Psalms 8615. It says when it means when it
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says gracious, it means that you bend down.
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You stoop in kindness to somebody inferior to you to help
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them. You have favor to give them
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mercy. Psalms 8615 if you don't have it
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memorized, you still have time says, but you, O Lord, are a
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God, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast
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love and faithfulness. Psalms one O 3 verse 8 says the
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Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in
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steadfast love. So he's gracious then he says,
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and righteous. Righteous here may not mean what
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we normally think of. It means that God acts with
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justice and righteousness in full accord with his divine
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standards. It means he's going to keep his
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covenant. He's righteous to keep his
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government. And then he says he's
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compassionate. Maybe you, if you have an NASB
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translation, it says compassionate.
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Mine says merciful. So, but there, there you can
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switch the words around, but you're, you're being merciful
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out of love. Our God is merciful.
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He heard the cries of the psalmist.
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So these three attributes, graciousness, righteousness and
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compassionate or mercy, they govern the Lord's, the Lord's
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response to the psalmist in his or her time of need.
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There are characteristics of God, but you know they're also
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characteristics of a godly man Pastor Lance finished his
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message this Sunday on the godly man right and Psalms 112 verse 4
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says the same 3 terms not about God, but about a godly man.
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It says for the upright he is gracious, merciful and
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righteous. So we share if you're godly in
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God's attributes, these three attributes, but he also says
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that he's protective. Verse 6 says the Lord preserves
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the simple. So not only is God gracious,
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righteous, merciful, but he cares for the simple or the
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little people, the common people, the everyday people.
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I think we read this verse and Sunday to Jeremiah 923 and 24
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says thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his riches
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wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in
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his might. Let not the rich man boast in
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his riches, but let him who boast boast in this that he
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understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices
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steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth.
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For in these things I delight. God doesn't care about the
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wisdom, the might, the power, the fame that the world does.
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He cares about the common and every day.
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And you see that, remember the gospel went to the lowly
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shepherds first, right in Luke 2.
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And remember that Jesus chose uneducated and common fishermen.
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At least seven of the 12 were fishermen.
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He's also, at the last part of verse 6, He says He saved me.
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So He's gracious, He's merciful, He's compassionate, He's
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protective, and He's a Savior. When the psalmist was at death's
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door, God heard his cry, verse one.
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God inclined his ear, verse 2. God delivered him, verses four
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and eight. God preserved him this verse,
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verse 6. God's going to deal bountifully
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with him in verse 7. And God saved him.
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So God delivered him in the Old Testament.
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But in the New Testament, when we have the word saved, you
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know, John 316 of course, right? But John 317 says, for God did
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not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in
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order that the world might be saved through him.
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And Romans 10/13 says everyone who calls upon the name of the
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Lord will be saved in some .2 Here the Lord is a deliverer.
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Verses 7 and 9 and #1 He blessed my life.
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He says, there, return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord
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has dealt bountifully with me. I love that word bountifully.
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We don't use that word today, do we?
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It's like maybe from England in the 1800s or something.
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But Psalms 13 verse 6 says I will sing to the Lord because He
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has dealt bountifully with me. You know, I asked at the
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beginning tonight's message if you could write a Psalm, I love
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the Lord, could you count your blessings?
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Could you name them one by one? Despite having a near death
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experience, the psalmist says God has down dealt bountifully
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with me. I hope God has down dealt
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bountifully with you and you can say what the psalmist says Jesus
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said in John 1010. The thief who is Satan comes
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only to steal and to kill. I came that they might have life
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and you might have abundantly, bountifully, abundantly, almost
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the same word. That's life and that's eternal
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life that Jesus gives us. He gives us a bountiful life in
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this world and of course in heaven to come.
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This says he delivered my life. Verse 8.
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So it begins with the four. This is not a casual, but in
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fact indeed, or yet maybe your translation says deliverance
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came in three phases. He says you delivered my soul
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from death. His life was endangered.
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You can see that in verses 349 and 15.
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But the Lord preserved his life. Secondly, he says my eyes from
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tears, so that would be sorrow or fear that would cause the
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psalmist to weep. And thirdly, my feet from
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stumbling. Psalms 5613 is the only other
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usage in of the word stumbling and it's the same word that
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David uses in describing how the Lord preserved his life from
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David's life from the Philistines and Gath.
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And the next verse 9, he extended my life.
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He says I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
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This is the first time we see this word.
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I will or we're going to see it 7 times.
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I will. We'll talk more about that
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later, but contrast this verse 9 with the words in verse 3.
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In verse three, he was in the pangs of Sheol she'll the Old
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Testament version of hell. Here he says the land of the
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living. So the psalmist was at death's
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door, but now he rejoices in the living God.
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Let's move on to the Third Point.
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His devotion and #1 there he says I trusted in the Lord.
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Verses 10 and 11 are difficult to to translate because
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commentators argue and fight about them.
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So my SV says I believed in even when I spoke and there's a bunch
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of different translations that they argue about, but I think
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the best 1 might be he says I believe.
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Therefore I said I am greatly afflicted and I set in my alarm
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all mankind are liars. So these two, this verse 10 and
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11 are debatable how to translate them, but I'm going to
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go with the the one you know, he's saying that people can't be
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trusted. This may indicate that the
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psalmist was accused of false accusations by ungodly men.
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Further, it's a bold statement how untrue all men are because a
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lot of the men probably predicted the psalmist's death.
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You're going to die and God spared his life.
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So he's calling them liars. So certainly all men can only
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offer a false hope for deliverance.
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Only God can save. Then secondly says I thank the
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Lord. And then here verse 12, how can
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I repay the Lord? What shall I render to the Lord
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for all his benefits to me? You know, how can I repay the
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Lord for all his goodnesses? You know, it's a rhetorical
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question, isn't it? Which has an emphatic answer.
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No, you can't repay the Lord for all his goodnesses.
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We have nothing to give to the Lord except ourselves, right?
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Romans 1135, that great doxology at the end of Chapter 11 says,
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who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
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All we can do is love the Lord back and honor Him with our
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bodies and our hearts and our minds.
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Then he says, I will thank the Lord.
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Verse 13 says I will lift up the cup of salvation.
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What does that mean? That's an Old Testament term
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from Exodus 29 or Leviticus 23 where they would have a drink
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offering and they would have the date morning sacrifice, they
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would have the evening sacrifice and they would offer a drink
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offering where they would pour it on the altar to give thanks
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for a lot of things. So we, we knew Testament
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believers, the closest you would come to this would be when you
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partake of Holy Communion because you're lifting up the
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cup of the new covenant, partaking in the Lord, the
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Lord's death and remembering him.
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The next he says, I will call upon the name of the Lord.
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OK, and the phrase here calling upon the name of the Lord in the
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Bible signifies more than just calling out to God or praying to
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God. It represents a deep personal
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relationship with God characterized by prayer, worship
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and faith in action. Next he says in verse 14, I will
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praise the Lord. He says I will pay my vows to
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the Lord in the presence of all His people.
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Notice verse 14 and verse 18 are exactly the same.
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I will pay my vows to the Lord and the friends of His people.
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So we have at least 10 psalms that talk about paying vows, and
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we talked a little bit about that.
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Remember in Psalm 65, the psalmist at the harvest festival
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said he would pay his vows. So paying vows publicly
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testifies to 1's responsibility for the Lord.
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Vows are promises that we make to God regarding services to be
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rendered to him and other people.
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Now, you know, you have the soldier in the foxhole who's
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who's getting shelled or shot at.
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He makes a vow to God. If you Get Me Out of here, God,
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I'll believe in you all the rest of my life.
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And usually the soldier doesn't keep that vow.
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A lot of men or women don't keep their marriage vows.
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We don't really talk a lot about vows, do we?
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But a godly individual fulfills his vow.
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And I made a point in Psalm 65 and I'll reiterate it again
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tonight. Jesus said if anyone would come
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after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and
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follow me. Our evangelical world today
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makes converts, but God said that worst make disciples.
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Jesus said we're make disciples. Many profess Jesus Christ, but
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they don't possess Jesus Christ. But if you're a follower of
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Jesus Christ and you say you love him, is there a commitment
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to the Lord? Disciples at Jesus time would
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follow Jesus Christ even to death.
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I got a little note today on the update from a website I follow.
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The parliament or the Congress in the country of Spain voted
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today or yesterday, and the vote was something like 330 to 31330
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people voted in the Congress that if a pastor counsels
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against homosexuality, they could throw him in jail.
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Only 31 of the politicians voted against it.
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Now, I don't know if it's signed yet, but that is a law.
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And it just shows you where we are that they want to put
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pastors. And I would think Spain would be
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a highly Catholic country, but they're trying to ban pastors
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from speaking out against it. But those pastors may have to go
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to jail. OK.
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Disciples will follow Christ even to death, even to jail.
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If you're a follower of Jesus Christ and you love the Lord as
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the Psalmist did, you'll be committed to calling upon the
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name of the Lord, a devoted prayer life, consecrating
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yourselves to holiness, living pure, serving the body of
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Christ, using your spiritual gift, sharing Christ with
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others, non believers, tithing to support the work of Christ,
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and faithful preserved in Christ all the days of your life.
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Let's look at the last point, verses 15 to 19, his delight.
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And we begin with that wonderful verse, All the Saints are
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precious to God. And then we'll look at I am a
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servant of God also, but All Saints are precious to God.
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You've heard this verse many times, especially when someone
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you love or someone in our church passes away, right?
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This is why J Vernon McGee says this Psalm is a love song
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because God swallows up death and victory.
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This Psalm celebrates deliverance from death, But the
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psalmist knows that death is very still a reality.
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He's going to die someday, but it's a reality for all God's
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children. And I love the word.
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It says precious, Precious. Psalm 72, verse 14 says precious
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is there blood in the sight of the Lord.
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Precious means you don't take it lightly.
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You value it highly, and the psalmist says that in the eyes
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of God, his Saints, maybe your translation says his godly ones.
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Some translations say his holy ones, his loyal ones, his
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committed ones, they are precious.
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It's such a beautiful verse, isn't it?
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Why is the death of a believer precious to God?
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I'll give you 3 quick reasons tonight #1 the Lord's death of
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the Lord's godly ones is precious because Jesus Christ
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died for them. Galatians 220 says I have been
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crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but the life I live
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by faith in the Son of God. I live by faith in the Son of
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God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
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You're united with Christ #2 the death of God, the Lord's godly
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ones is more precious because God's the one who gave them all
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the days of their lives. Psalms 139 verse 16 says while
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you are still in the womb of your mother, it says your eyes
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saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every
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one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there
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were none of them. God.
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Moses says God gives us 7080 years.
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We have strength. But even those aborted babies
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are precious in the sight of God.
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Even those children who died in the flood in Texas, they're
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precious in the sight of God #3 the death of Lord's godly 1 is
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precious because they go to Him. You turn to me to 2nd
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Corinthians verse 51 to 8 as you're turning there.
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Yesterday, the Spanish church here, Esteban, held that they
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had a service for Maria Delarosa.
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She passed away a few weeks ago, and she's in heaven.
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And this Friday we will have a memorial service for Cecilia
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Brajas. They're all precious in the
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sight of God. But Second Corinthians 5 is one
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of the classic passages that it warms our heart when when we
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have death. And it says, for we know that if
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the tent that is earthly home, that's our bodies you have right
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now is destroyed. We have a building from God, a
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house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
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For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly
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dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may be found, may not
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be found naked. For while we are still in this
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tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we we would be
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unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is
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mortal may be swallowed up by life.
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He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given
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us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good
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courage. We know that while we are at
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home in the body, we are away from the Lord, but we walk by
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faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and
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we would rather be away from the away from the body and at home
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with the Lord. There's a couple commentators in
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this verse I'd love to read. And James Boyce, who's in heaven
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with God, said God is particularly close to his people
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when they stand at death's door. God watches over His people when
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they're sick or dying, coming close to them and making His
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presence known so that they all have comfort in death's hour.
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He also frequently intervenes and does not allow them to
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perish. In either case, the Lord does.
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What is Beth? Spurgeon said?
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Though death is a curse and an enemy, it is still precious
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because it removes the remaining barriers between God and His
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Saints. Death is the doorway to an
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eternity of perfect fellowship. Death to the Saints is not a
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penalty, it is not destruction, it is not even a loss.
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Aspersion also said of Baxter, a great, a great Puritan.
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When Baxter lay dying and his friends came to see him, almost
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the last words he said was an answer to the question, Dear Mr.
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Baxter, how are you? Almost Well, he said.
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And so it is. Death cures.
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It's the best medicine for those who die are not only almost
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well, but they are healed forever.
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And one commentator said as Jesus saying these words, Psalm
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116, verse 15, with his disciples of the night before
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his own death. The words were powerful and
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prophetic because Jesus was the ultimate holy one and his death
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precious beyond all reckoning. Let's look on to I am a servant
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of the Lord and he says there I am a servant.
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I am a servant. I'm a son of a maid servant, OK,
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literally saying I'm your slave. So Jonathan tonight got a legacy
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standard Bible. And if you know the the leaders
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at Grace Community Church and the Masters Seminary made a new
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translation which I've talked and talked about and enjoyed
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reading with the Psalms, and they took the word servant
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completely out of the New Testament and replaced it with
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slave. And as I mentioned, John
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MacArthur says, you know, a slit, A servant can quit,
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servant can quit and walk away from his master, right?
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But a slave can never leave their master.
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And if you have Jesus Christ in your heart tonight, Romans 6618
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says that you are a slave of righteousness.
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You're a slave of Jesus Christ. So repeated back-to-back, this
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statement emphasizes the Psalmist humble submission and
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dependence upon his sovereign Lord.
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God loosed his bonds, he says, loosed his bond.
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God looses our bonds. God loosed his bonds from
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death's door. God looses our bonds from sin
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and gives us eternal life and salvation, and we are his slaves
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of righteousness forever. He says here in verse 17, I will
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sacrifice to God another one of the I wills.
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I will offer you a sacrifice of Thanksgiving and call upon the
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name of the Lord. Again, these would be the
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Thanksgiving offerings that are listed in Leviticus 7 Exodus
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different chapters. Because I'm a slave of
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righteousness, I'm going to offer the sacrifice of
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Thanksgiving. And he says I'm going to fulfill
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my vows. I'm not only going to fill my
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vows in the middle amidst the people of God.
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He says in the presence you're going to, you're going to see
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the fruit. You're going to see what I
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promised to do. He says I'm going to do it in
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the courts of the House of God and I'm going to do it in the
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city of God. So the psalmist repeats verse 14
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by about fulfilling his vows in the presence of all his people.
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People will see his faith in action.
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His fruit will show and will be on display.
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And then our psalmist ends with the words, 3 words in English,
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one word in Hebrew, praise the Lord and you know that is
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Hallelujah. So in the Egyptian halal there
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are 6 psalms, but four of them in with praise the Lord, Psalm
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113, Psalm 115, Psalm 116, and Psalm 117.
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So we just have a few minutes left tonight and what can we
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learn from this Psalm? Well, I hope you've learned this
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10 weeks. We've looked at most of all of
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the Psalms special Psalms 86 was called What a prayer of David
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Psalms one O 2 was called a prayer of the afflicted Psalm 5
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Psalms 27. We're all like prayers.
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So I hope you've learned a lot. That's one reason I I encourage
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people to read 1 Psalm a day because it, it, it challenges
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you, encourage you to pray like the psalmist.
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It teaches you how to pray. It teaches you how to pray and
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praise the Lord, those two things.
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And you know, it says in our Psalm tonight, Psalms 116 verse
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2, he cries out, incline your ear to me, right?
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And Psalm one O 2 verse two said that Psalms 86 verse one said
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that those Psalms we looked at. But first Peter 3 verse 12 says,
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for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are
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attentive to their prayer. So God doesn't really have to
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doesn't have eyes. He doesn't have ears, but he
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already inclines his ear when we cry out to him.
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So I hope that your prayer life will change.
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I hope that you'll pray for people who dislike you.
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Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies, right?
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I pray for people you dislike and how you can love them when
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some people are not lovely, right?
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I pray that when you pray, you'll pray for your needs and
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not your greeds or desires. I pray that your your prayer
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will be like we talked about, Spurgeon says.
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Arguing with God, debating with God.
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This is why you need to answer this prayer.
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God effort without prayer sometimes ineffective, right?
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Pray that you'll pray humbly and live likewise.
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Don't pray for a lighter load. Pray for a stronger back.
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Pray quietly before God in the busiest and noisiest parts of
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your day. Pray that you can stand up to
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Satan. Well, you can't stand up to
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Satan if you don't kneel before God.
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But if you pray and kneel before God, you can stand up.
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Satan will flee. Pray with perseverance and pray
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with expectancy. Pray as if the task depended on
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God and work as if it depends on you.
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The next time you feel weak in your knees, try using them to
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pray. There's no such thing as an
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unsuccessful or or successful pray.
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People of God may not talk about their prayer habits, but their
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lives speak volume. So I hope your prayer life will
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be enhanced and changed this summer.
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Secondly, can you say those four precious words?
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I love the Lord, verse one. Love calls out for God for
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Christ's disciples to pray to the Lord in First Thessalonians
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417 says pray without ceasing #2 love finds rest in the Lord.
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Verse 7, he, he had peace with God after his healing.
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God had dealt bountifully with him and he was at rest with the
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Lord #3 Love always lives as if it's in the presence of the
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Lord. Verse 9 I will walk before the
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Lord #4 Love fulfills its vows to the Lord.
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You have a you, You say you love the Lord.
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We'll talk about that in a minute.
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You have a commitment to follow the Lord and then #5 love serves
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the Lord. You use your gift.
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You know, I mentioned it last week, but to seeing, I don't
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know, maybe 7080 volunteers from Christ Community Church at VBS,
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it was just beautiful to see the body of Christ exercising the
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gifts. And we want you to help out with
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the safety team, with the greeting team, with the nursery,
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with the children's ministry. So some of you worked at VBS.
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We could use you. OK, it's easy to say I love the
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Lord, but verse 18 of our Psalm, the psalmist says you're going
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to see my faith in action. You're going to see it in the
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presence of people and I hope we'll see you serving, joining
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at Christ Community Church. And then lastly, if you say I
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love the Lord, then what is your I will statement?
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So once psalmist said you say I love you, then I will.
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That was G Campbell Morgan say I love you and then I will he says
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I will in verse 2, verse 9, verse 13, verse 14, verse 17 and
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verse 18. If you say I love the Lord,
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there's going to be something to that.
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I will what are what are your I wills and I think of Hebrews 11,
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that Great Hall of faith and I won't read it all, but you know,
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there's I think 20 different names named, but it says by
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faith. Abel offered to God a more
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acceptable sacrifice and gain by faith.
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Noah being warned by God, he constructed an ark by faith.
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Abraham obeyed when he was called to go.
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There was by faith, by faith, by faith.
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And then almost every one of those characters, they did
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something. Noah built an ark.
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Abraham obeyed God and left Abel did the right sacrifice.
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So with if you have faith in Jesus Christ, there will be
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works, works that don't save you, but works because you love
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the Lord. So where faith is, there's
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action as we see in Hebrews and Psalms 116.
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If you, if you love the Lord like the psalmist, then what are
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your eye wills? I will worship him regularly.
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Maybe I will pray and talk with him regularly.
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I will serve the body of Christ at Christ Community Church.
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I will support the work of of God in his work financially.
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I will love the brethren and visit them.
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There's over 51 another's in the Bible.
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So if you say I love the Lord the 1st 4 words of Psalms 116,
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then what are your seven I will statements?
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Let's pray Father in heaven. Thank you for Psalm 116.
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Father, it is such a beautiful Psalm.
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The psalmist was at death's door and you spared his life.
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And I'm sure today we have hospitals and doctors and better
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medicine and things. But we, Father, you have spared
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many of us many times from sickness, from health, from
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accidents, from difficult times. And Father, we can say I love
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the Lord and I know we love you. So I do pray that we search our
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hearts and then see what I are. I will statements, I will call
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upon the name of the Lord. I will serve the Lord.
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I will follow the Lord, and especially I will walk with the
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Lord daily. So Father, thank you for this
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song, may we leave here today knowing more of you and applied
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it and obeyed it in our life in Jesus name, Amen.