They could have done a concert. I would have enjoyed that. Beautiful harmonies they have there. I'm glad Nathan works with them and trains them and invests a lot of time with them. I thought when Pastor Terry said that you can see Pastor Karen or him, he said that there was not much of a comma in there. So it sounded like Pastor Karen. It reminded me back when we first started the church. Some of you know this story well, but some of you do not. Karen and I had thought at the one year anniversary, we would give out pens to the church. And so I forget what it had. It had some inscription on it and said, Pastor and Karen Schweitzer. Well, they just assumed it was Pastor Karen Schweitzer. So we've got a whole shipload of pens that just said from Pastor Karen Schweitzer. And so anyway, We told the story that morning, they send out corrected pens, told us to just keep the ones that they printed by mistake. Well, then they wanted to be possessed by some of our ladies, so we brought them that evening and handed them out. There's still a few around. Let's say Pastor Karen Switzer, but anyway. Anyway. She writes all the sermons anyway. You're right, Pastor. I thought about that, that God would think enough to give us a comforter. When we sang that song, the comforter has come. And now while the Holy Spirit does so much more than that, God knew we would need a comforter in life. And I am so thankful for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Turn with me in your Bible or take out your sheet to Psalm 116. I think a large number of you are very familiar with what we do the first Sunday night of the month, but some of you may not. And so let me just say to you, the first Sunday nights of the month, we go over our Psalm that we are emphasizing this month. And we made a change, if you have the original church calendar, you would see that it would have said Psalm 148, I believe, but we made a change, I made a change to Psalm 116. And so what I'm gonna do tonight is read through this Psalm out loud to you, and then I would encourage you to take note. I have a number of questions that I sent out and made available. One of the things is about the origination of the psalm. When I first wrote it, I was thinking more of the Psalm 148 being a psalm of David. It is thought to could have been a psalm of David, but really the author is anonymous. We're not exactly sure. But I will ask if you did any background study on that, what you found. When the writer writes, another thing, I love the Lord, I ask this question to consider as well, why do you love the Lord? The writer mentioned several times about the Lord and His character traits, and I want you to look for that as I read. I'll be asking that question. I think the writer also gives evidence several times that he's lived a difficult life, and you might notice that as I read. I also thought, when I was reading it, that there was a lot of humility shown by this writer, and I would encourage you to maybe look for that as well. We'll talk about what does it mean when he says, I will take the cup of salvation. What is that referring to? And there's a few other things that we will discuss tonight. But let's begin with a word of prayer as we talk about how David or the psalmist praises the righteousness of God, both in life and death. Let's pray. Dear Father, we now come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we try to do service after service, we're just letting your Word direct our path. We're considering what you have had written, and giving weight to it, giving consideration to it. and trying then to make some applications. I pray that you would guide us in our understanding of this great psalm, and really opening us to some good discussion tonight. May they not just hear from me, but may I hear from them, and may they hear from one another tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Again, tonight is one of our ladies' Bible studies, so a number of our ladies are not with us. but we would like to have some time of discussion here. As I read, would you please follow along carefully? The psalmist writes, I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications, because he hath inclined his ear unto me. Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death can pass to me and the pains of hell get hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord, he says in verse 5, and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believe, therefore, have I spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liars. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosened my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay 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 Oh Jerusalem praise ye the Lord. What a wonderful Psalm. This is and over the last probably year. This has become one of my favorite Psalms. This is also This was one of the favorite Psalms of Peggy Sowers and she had requested that I would speak from it in doing her memorial service. And several others that I've talked to in recent months have referenced this great Psalm, Psalm 116. I ask you this and ask you to consider this. Have you ever prayed while reading? I know sometimes we pray and then read, or read and then pray, or pray, read, and pray again. I try to at least do that. I try to pray and ask the Lord to open my eyes to truths and cleanse my heart. But I wonder, have you ever, as you're reading, prayed? I have done that and done that with this psalm over the last several weeks as I've been considering this psalm. I began partway through actually the month of October and beginning to evaluate this psalm and take it to heart. So as I was reading through this, I began to make it a prayer. First of all, has anyone done a background study? Did anyone find any background to this psalm? I put that out in a sheet about a week ago. I don't know if anyone came up with any information there as to what may have been happening just before this was written. Do I have anybody that has done that? Yes, Randy. Okay, the idea there has been, one of the ideas was if David was truly the author, it was after being chased by Absalom. Someone else, anyone else? Yes, Amanda. It could have been. Again, we're really open to. Someone else had suggested the idea of not knowing who the writer was. It could have been also after a captivity and they referenced several of the verses, the way they came across, the deliverance that the Lord gave. And so they thought it was some type of a captivity. So some good ideas there. We're not exactly sure of the author. I lean a little bit toward David. David wrote estimatedly 75 of the 150 Psalms, but there are several of them like this Psalm that had been attributed to him by some and to others it has not been. The one, I guess three lists that I have that have him writing 75, none of them had this psalm as necessarily one of them. It was one of the psalms that has remained in question. The writer says at the beginning, I love the Lord because, did you notice that? I love the Lord and then I put a box around the word because, because therefore in verses one and two, I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication, because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The question that I have is, why do you love the Lord? If you were to finish that statement, I love the Lord because, what would you put in there? And again, this has to be nothing you found directly from this psalm, but I'm just asking. What is one of the reasons you love the Lord? Who will be the first to respond to that? And hopefully several will respond to that. Yes, Wendy. Well, I would have to say, with the psalms, you know, I love the Lord because of the things He's done for me. But as I'm thinking about that, I think, but isn't that kind of selfish? You know, we love the Lord because He does things for us. And so then I started to think about where it says, we love Him because He first loved us. And so, you know, I was just trying to think about because he loves me, I love him. Good. Excellent. Because he loves her, she also loves him. Good. Someone else. Yes, Rita. Well, that's true, isn't it? He is all we will ever need and she will be able to always have him. Someone else. Yes, Shari. Because he loves me and he also cares. Amen. That's a great one to add to it. He loves Shari and also cares about her and she loves him in response. Great. Someone else? Yes, Brother Jim. Excellent, man. Yeah, you go through those difficulties and it's a great comfort. By the way, this is one of those verses that as I was reading it, I just stopped and prayed. I said, You know, something like this, I love you too, Lord. And I try to each day come up with something different about him, about his character, about what he's done. I think the one time I said, thank you for not giving me everything I asked for, because sometimes I ask amiss, as James says. And the Lord loves me enough that he doesn't give me everything that I asked for. We think, yeah, if somebody loves you, they'll give you everything you want. No, that's not necessarily true. And so one of the things that I talked to the Lord about on one of the mornings, Lord, one of the reasons I love you is you don't just give me everything I ask for. You know that isn't best for me. And so this would be a good place for you if you're reading over the next couple of days through this psalm, or even if you're writing this psalm out, just stop and talk to the Lord right in the middle of reading. I know it might be a shocker to you, but do that. This is part of having a relationship. How many of you are in a relationship? You allow one to talk for 10 minutes, and then you talk, you have your rebuttal for 10 minutes. And then the other ones be, no, we don't do that. It's interaction. And so I would encourage you to do the same. And maybe as you get to some of those opening verses, or maybe some of the other verses, you'll be stirred to speak to the Lord. Oh Lord, man, I remember when you delivered me this week in this situation, thank you for delivering me. I don't know if I remember to thank you when you did it, but I thank you now for doing so to me. Anyone else, you want to add Seth? You had your hand up first. Good. When I was growing up, I had a young child and a young Christian. I began to have a fear of God. It's very detrimental and punishing. And I fear that everything I do might violate one of your commands and precepts, and I would be held accountable for that. And one of the things that we've been hearing from you, Dr. Davis, has been your loving and gracious doctrine. Amen. Right. Amen. It says the goodness of the Lord brings us to repentance. So it doesn't make for a soft God and a soft relationship. It actually can make for a really strong one. I think Brother Larry, did you have your hand up there? Amen. Amen. Deliverance from temptations that we have and then repeated answers to prayer. and may we continually love the Lord. As we get opportunity later, you can share, express any other reasons as well. But I wanted to go on to the second question that I had sent out. There were several things that he noted about the Lord. I mentioned especially verse five, but what do you find that he tells you about the Lord? Who has one thing that he tells you about the Lord? The Lord is like what? What is the Lord like? Yes, Sarah. He's gracious. And we talked about this in Sunday school this morning. God's grace is God giving that to us that which we don't deserve. So he is gracious. We found that it's strength. We found that sometimes it's finances. There are Bible passages to cover a number of things. What else is the Lord? Yes, Uriah. merciful yet see now these kids are speaking with a smile on their face because I said we're gonna go through Psalms because you won't speak tonight when there's adults around and they are showing me up good job young people and by what is mercy then Uriah your friend Ada knows Ada can you help us with that Yeah. Yes, she did. Yeah. So it's the compliment to grace. Grace is giving us what we don't deserve. And mercy is withholding from us that which we do deserve. And I can still remember when Brian was a boy and got the concept. I don't remember how old he was, but he was fairly young. And he says so. God doesn't send us to hell as mercy and God allowing us to go to heaven as grace. And yeah, you got that picture. And we deserve to go to hell, don't deserve to go to heaven, but God in his grace and mercy has given to us both. What's another attribute of God mentioned there? Yes, Ada, you had your hand up first or do I decline to Sarah? Okay, Sarah. He is righteous. And then Ada, what did you have? He is righteous. Amen to that. I couldn't tell when I called. I thought maybe you were declining there to Sarah. So yes, according to verse number five, the Lord is gracious and righteous. He does the right things. And our God is merciful. So when God is merciful, that is the right thing. Anyone else? What else did someone else notice about God? God is what? According to this psalmist. Now, it's not going to be as clear maybe as stated here, but I find a number of other things about God. Yes, Diane? He hears our prayers. Pam? He is faithful. Good. Someone else? Yes, Sarah? He's a deliverer. He will deliver us. And that's mentioned several times by the psalmist here. Someone else. So he's a deliverer. Brother Ted. He's expedient. Good. Good. Someone else. Anyone else? Yeah, as you read. Brother Shane. Yeah, he preserveth those that are simple. And again, the idea that he takes care of us, not because of how great we are, dynamic we are, even to the simple that he gives to preservation. He also mentioned some things about himself where I picked up some things about himself. And I came up with this conclusion that he was a humble man. Do you see any humility in this psalm? Do you see as we go along there some signs of humility? Yes, Brother Jim? Yeah, who repeats that? I am thy servant. I am thy servant. Actually, if I remember correctly, I think there are 16 Hebrew words for servant. And this is basically the lowest of the low. Use this illustration if you work for an employer. There are some that maybe are the CEO, and then there's maybe a vice president, and maybe there's some type of another executive or treasurer. And then it works down to the bottom. I don't know who's at the very bottom necessarily, but the phrase that the psalmist is here using is he's not considering himself the vice president. He's not second or third in command. He's down at the bottom. And he says, Lord, I am thy servant. So again, here's a holy man of God stating his servitude. Someone else? Brother Andy. Excellent. Excellent thing to pick up there. So these are the Lord's people, not his people. And he is going to pay these vows in the presence of, or in the presence of all his people. And so a great sign of humility as well. Someone else. What else do you notice here? Any other signs of humility? Wendy? Good, excellent. I also noticed there verse six, Lord preserve it this simple. And I think it was probably even a reference to himself because he goes on to say, I was brought low and he helped me. And so here's one who recognized that he needed help. That's. And I think that was brought up in our teen class this morning. Even praying itself is a shot sign of dependence upon the Lord and that we can't do it on our own. And so when you get to those points in life when you just don't feel like you can go further anymore. One of the things that you can do is pray. And even in First Peter Chapter 5 that's it. That's what the humble do. They pray unto the Lord and ask Him for help. Anyone else? Yes, Sarah. Oh, that's good. He lifts the Lord instead of blaming him for the difficulties that he has gone through. He mentioned several times. One is the sorrows of death, the pains of hell. I found trouble and sorrow. I thought it was interesting when I read that phrase in verse three, I found trouble and sorrow. Usually we say trouble found me. But here he says, I found it and I found that in sorrow. But instead of blaming the Lord, he uplifts the Lord. He is very uplifting of who the Lord is and what the Lord has done for him. Good. Anyone else? These are all good. I also ask a question about verse 13. What does it mean to take the cup of salvation? This is basically something that the Hebrews or the Jewish people, children of Israel, would have known automatically what that means, but for us it might take a little bit of study or thought. What does that mean? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Anybody look that up? Anybody know what that means? Yes, Rita. Okay, good. It's a pledge of loyalty toward the Lord. Someone else? Yes, Brother Butch. It is. It is a public praise for salvation. Very often as they would go through their various offerings, at times they would raise a cup, signifying praise unto the Lord. And so these are good answers that we have got from that. It's the idea of recognizing the Lord for who he is, and then he goes on to say, and call upon the name of the Lord. So not only praising him, but also calling upon the name of the Lord. Any other comment there? Any other reference? Pastor Terry. Good. Good. Excellent. Excellent. Anyone else? I then add this about the word haste. If you would notice with me, this is again a couple of interesting verses. I'll read verses 10 and 11 together. I believe, therefore, I have spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liars. Now the word haste there, again, that's a, It's an interesting word. There were 14 different Hebrew words that meant to make haste or to hurry. But this one had a kind of a different significance to it. Did anyone find what this word haste, kind of the background to it or what it had in mind as well? Anybody find that? For the butch? Yeah, it's the word has the background of being fearful. So you're running or being motivated by fear. This is by the way, there's a couple of great books. One of them would be Wilson's Old Testament word studies that had all 14 different ones. And then what it does is the verse references that use any of those 14, and then tells you which one, go to number one. This was number seven, I believe. And would just mean it's the seventh one used in the scriptures, no significance to that, or maybe it's the seventh in alphabetic order, I forget there. But anyway, and as you got down to this, it took you to that, and it had this idea of somebody who's motivated to do something quickly because of terror or fear. So again, it kind of is fitting with his entire psalms, talking about deliverance, talking about being preserved. It's talking about being low. It's talking about the sorrows of death and the pains of hell and finding trouble and sorrow. And so then he's saying, in my haste, in my fear and trembling, I said, all men are liars. That's really an interesting statement. Now what stood out to me in understanding, I believe, trying to understand verses 10 and 11 is the punctuation. It doesn't end. Most every one of these verses ends with a period or a question mark. I think one question mark. All the others are periods except the colon at the end of verse 10 and the comma at the end of verse 18. Verses 18 and 19 and verses 10 and 11 then have more of a connection than any of the other verses. So look what he says here in verses 10 and 11. I had believed, therefore have I spoken, colon. So I'm going to go on and give some explanation of that. I was greatly afflicted. Let me explain what I mean by that. I said in my haste, all men are liars. And so I think there's a connection here. I think because he had believed, he was spoken out. This is what I'm believing. My belief system says this, all men are liars. That's what I was believing. Why was I believing that? I was greatly afflicted, and in my haste, that's what I said. In my fear, in my trembling, that's what I said. So I kind of take the verses that. Now others have taken the verse totally different, but I'm using the punctuation to help me understand the verses. Others have said he had believed in God, therefore, He was going to speak, sharing that he was greatly afflicted, and they draw no connection to verse number 11. I said in my haste, all men are liars. I just can't get around the punctuation there, especially since up to this point, every verse has ended with a period. That's a complete sentence. That's a complete statement. But verses 10 and 11 are actually to be read together making a complete statement. So for me, what he is believing and what he is saying is all men are liars. Why is he doing that? Because he was afflicted and speaking out of fear. Speaking out of trouble. Any other comments to that? Or any other comments to those verses or that word haste? Anyone else? Pastor Terry. Hmm. Okay, so fleeing away from imminent danger. By the way, understand this, not only does the Lord preserve, but he also gives us the wisdom sometimes to run, to flee on his own, to flee on our own. Anyone else? Just something you noticed in this Psalm, something that stands out to you. I want to make comment to one other section here yet, but I want to give you opportunity. Anyone else, just something you noticed, something that was repeated? Pastor Terry. Yeah. Good. So they're twice mentioning, I've paid my vows. I put that in purple actually on my sheet. So it stands out in verses 14 and 18. He says the same thing. And so he is convinced this is one thing that he is, that I take away. He's giving great importance to is this paying of vows back to the Lord. Yeah. And I took from that as well. He says, I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of his people. I wonder if he didn't make the vows in the presence of God's people. And so he says, now I'm going to do it in the presence. I want people to know I did what I said. I don't have anything dogmatic that I can take from that, but both times he says, I'm going to do it in the presence of the people. So in my mind, I'm thinking he's making those vows in the presence of people, and now he wants to make sure they know he's fulfilled that vow. So good. I like what Pastor Terry brought up there. Someone else. Anything else you notice? Brother Jim. When I do that, what shall I? What can I do? Is there enough that I can do? Good, good. I drew together verse 7. The Lord hath dealt bountifully with me with that verse that Brother Jim just referenced. What shall I do? And so he's wanting to repay the Lord. And after that, I did notice, you know, I will, I will. In fact, it's used in verse 13, 14, 17, 18. He made a number of commitments of things that he would do. And so, I think really a heart of gratitude wants to seek for a way to repay. And as Jim has said, there's no way we can repay the Lord, but surely our heart should have that idea. I wanna do something back to the Lord who's done so much for me. Good, someone else. Yes, Carmen. The Lord gives us more than we expect sometimes. Good. Excellent. Excellent. Someone else? Anyone else? The thing that I thought of just briefly verses three four and five I think in in the world in which we live those verses don't fit together. Talking about the sorrows of death and can pass me about the pains of hell by the way it would be. If we would literally translate that out today, we would say the pain of hell, or excuse me, the pain of the grave. And so again, it's a reference to the sorrows of death who come past me and the pain of hell get hold upon me. And both, this is what we would call parallelism in poetry. He's saying the same thing in two different ways. So he's gone through a time of losing someone But then says, then I called upon the name of the Lord. And this is what he says. Gracious is the Lord. Righteous, and he's merciful. I think a lot of times the world in which we live, when we lose someone or something, we again are prone, as said there earlier, to make accusations against the Lord. I think Sarah made that comment. But instead of making accusations, he's praising the Lord. And so that kind of hit me. I mean, he's gone through some definite loss. He's been to the grave, according to verse 3. And his comment is, the Lord is gracious, the Lord is righteous, and the Lord is merciful. What is probably the most well-known verse in this psalm prior to our beginning to evaluate? What verse maybe have you ever heard quoted more than any other? Yeah, down there in verse number 15. As precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. I've never struggled with the idea of what it says, but I've always struggled with where it is written. As I'm reading through this psalm, and again as I did so tonight, it almost seems like a verse out of place. It seems like a verse just all of a sudden stuck in there that doesn't necessarily seem to fit with the rest of the psalm. You're reading along and talking about the deliverance of his soul and the Lord preserved him. He's reading on about how in his haste he said, All men are liars. What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows now in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the Lord. All of a sudden, It just seems out of place. By the way, I still think that. I'm not in heaven yet and don't have a full mind. But one thing that really stood out to me, and I think in my understanding of what this verse is saying, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. But very often in this psalm, he's already stated, the Lord delivered me a number of times. So it's not like the Lord, it's precious for the Lord to take away one of His saints from earth and take them to heaven, because very often He didn't do that. In fact, He sustained their life. He preserved their life. He delivered their soul. So it's not like, I remember one time we had someone, I don't want to expose who they are, but they didn't want to get saved because their fear was that as soon as they got saved, they thought God was going to take them and they'd go to heaven. And they didn't want to die. So it kept them from getting saved, initially, because they were afraid that once they get saved, God might say, okay, precious in the Lord's death of His saints, here's another one, let me take them home. But the reality of it is this, I think in God's timing, it becomes a precious thing. God throughout our life on several occasions maybe, I remember Pastor Terry gave reference to this, he says, you know what, without the Lord, Pastor Terry I think said he thought he would have died years ago, but the Lord had saved him and spared him. But at the same time, when God says, you know what, I'm ready to bring you home, that is a precious thing. That is a precious thing in the sight of the Lord. Why? Because now it's one of His children in His timing. Not when the enemies want to take them home. No, when the Lord wants to take them home. So that's why I think it fits into this psalm because he's saying, man, the Lord has delivered me, the Lord has saved me. I was there at the grave already when others were taken. But now when it becomes the Lord's timing, it's precious to Him. Well, it ought to also be precious to us, and I just want to reference this in closing. Look back to verse number 9 that was talked about by Wendy earlier. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Now there was thought to be there an immediate promise that was possible. Maybe this is when they're delivered out of captivity and the Lord's going to give them the land to dwell in. But it's also a heavenly truth as well. One day we will walk with the Lord in the land of the living. That's why it's not only should be precious to Him, it ought to be precious to us. We lost one of our dear saints this week in Sister Lois. And had that song in her heart, had joy in her heart, knew the scriptures, knew the song so well. But dear friend, I want you to know, I think it was not only precious for the Lord, but it was precious for her. She's wanted this for a long time. and now to be in the presence of the Lord." So I think in understanding that verse, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. He's not looking, He's not wanting to hurry it up. He's not wanting to take our lives as quickly as possible. But when it's right, it's precious to Him. And I think about that, the mercy of God. I know it's precious to us. Do you realize it's all so precious to Him? That really ought to hit us. I mean, we're looking forward to going to heaven. I hope you are at least. Some of you, I don't know the expressions you give me right now, I'm not sure. I hope you're looking forward to going to heaven, but do you understand God is looking forward to it too? He's looking forward to being united with us in eternity. And I think that's an awesome thought. That God wants us home. That God wants us in His presence. And praise the Lord, one day we will walk with the Lord in the land of the living. It's a great psalm. We're going to evaluate it briefly throughout the month. Pastor Terry will mostly lead all of those evaluations. So please continue to read it. If you would, write out the psalm. Take some time to do that. I completed that. I timed it actually. Over a period of three days, I wrote it in just under 20 minutes. So this isn't a long project, 19 verses. You can basically write one verse a minute. They're not very long. And so I've already written out the entire psalm and looking forward to doing it again. I'm going to probably start tomorrow and do it again. I would encourage you, it's a great exercise. That's where I picked up the punctuation and tied together verses 10 and 11. It wasn't until I wrote it that I picked that up. And so I think you'll notice things because of writing it. Let me encourage you to do that. Let's stand together with a closing word of prayer. and enjoy some fellowship. Dear Father, we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm so looking forward to heaven, but I'm so thankful you're looking forward to that relationship as well. Father, You have delivered us so often throughout this life, and we look forward to being with You for all eternity. Guide, protect us, strengthen us throughout this week. We have the service coming up, we have some that are ill, and I just pray Your rich blessing and protection upon Your people this week. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.