And we'll dismiss the little ones, go with Mrs. Schwartz and the Cresh. And if you turn in your Bibles, it's Psalm 116. All right, Psalm 116. And that's where we're gonna be. And as Brother Tommy read, that's gonna be our main text there, starting at verse 12, down through verse 19. You know, our home church, where I'm from, in Hudson, Wisconsin, Bible Baptist Church, just celebrated their 50th plus one anniversary. 50th plus one because the 50th came on the year that COVID came. and obviously it impacted a lot of things. They weren't able to celebrate last year, so they got together last week on their 51st anniversary and just rejoiced in what God has done in the last half a century. My dad was pastor there for 27 years, and you know that my dad has some memory issues and whatnot, but I just praise God Mom and Dad were able to go back and to be there, and I was thankful for that, just for somebody to represent our family on that special occasion. You know, our home church is a blessing. They're our sending church, so they're the church that kind of holds the ropes, really, for our family, what God's called us to do over here. They're the church that commissioned us and prayed for us as we came. They're also the church that organizes our prayer letter. When we send a prayer letter out, letting people know kind of how things are going, what they need to be praying about. They are the ones, the teenagers there, I think, in the church fold that up and post for us and it's a nice ministry to us, help to us, it's a ministry for them. But every now and then I like to say thank you in a personal way to the teens for doing that. So over the years at different times, we've helped organize maybe a pizza party or something like that. I'm currently trying to get that done for those young people that are helping us in what we do. You know, when someone does something nice for us, It's natural to want to give back. You know, it's natural to want to say thank you in a tangible way. You can't ever really kind of repay somebody maybe for what they've done, but you want to really give away somehow to say thank you to them for that. You know, here in our text, Psalm 116, and we just read the end of it, but you might have noticed that I started with a statement. It says, Psalm about giving back to God. Most commentators believe that King David is the author of this Psalm. And so verse 12, where we began reading, it asks a question. It says, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefit? Okay, to render is to provide or to give as a service or a help, okay? So King David is asking the question, God, you've been good to me. What can I give back to you for all that you have done for me? You know, King David in the Bible is a man that would think about what he gave to God. There's several illustrations of that. Just let me share two as we get started here. One is the story about the water from the well in Bethlehem, all right? And it says in 2 Samuel 23 verse 14, remember King David's in hiding. The Bible says he was in a hold and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David long had said, oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well Bethlehem, which is by the gate. And the three mighty men break through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, he would not drink thereof, but he poured it out unto the Lord. He said, be it far from me, oh Lord, that I should do this. Is not this the blood of the men that would in jeopardy of their lives, therefore he would not drink it. And so there he is, he's in the cave, you know, and he's in the wilderness and he just cries out, hey, I am thirsty for that water, my home city. Bethlehem and his mighty men say let's go get the king a drink future king, you know And so they break through they get that they bring it back David looks at that says it's too valuable Why because it's the price of the blood of these men if they've been killed trying to get this it's priceless Therefore the Bible says he wouldn't drink of it himself. But what he poured it out unto the Lord It was too valuable. So he gave it as an offering to God. He thought about what he gave to God remember when King David likewise was burdened about building the house of God, and God said, you're not gonna build it, but your son's gonna build it, yet he desired very much to give to that building. In 1 Chronicles 29, verse one, it says, furthermore, David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great, for the palace is not for men, but for the Lord God. Now I have prepared with all my might, for the house of my God, the gold for things to be made of gold and the silver for things of silver and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron and wood for things of wood, onyx stones and stones to be set, glistering stones and of diverse colors and all manner of precious stones and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I've set my affection to the house of my God, I have of my own proper good of gold and silver, which I've given to the house of my God over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even 3,000 talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver to overlay the walls of the house with all. The gold of things of gold, the silver for things of silver, for all manner of work to be made by the hand of artificers. And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord And David's saying, hey, I have given deeply because I care deeply about the house of God. I care deeply about God. And so, again, David was a person that considered that. What am I giving back to God, even as the psalmist here in our text asked the question again, we believe it's King David, when he says, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? And what we've already read and what we're going to consider is the fact that as David thought about that question, he came up with resolutions. He came up with decisions. There are I will statements in our text and he's thinking about that questions and he says, therefore I will, I will, I will. And that's going to be the sum of what we consider this morning, this truth we ought to give back to the Lord who has given so much to us. Okay, what have I given to God? What am I giving to God? What will I give to God for all his benefits towards me? All right, let's pray. Ask the Spirit of God to direct us as we consider this this morning. Father, we just praise you for the grace that you give. Thank you for the opportunity to look at Psalm 116. The church may remember this, but last Sunday, this was in our Bible reading, and this question stood out to me. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? And Father, I just pray that the Spirit of God would use this text to touch our hearts this morning, that we really stop and think, you know, I really ought to give back to God. What am I giving back to God? What do we see in this text about giving back to God? And Father, would you have your way? I pray for the children in the creche. I pray to God that you bless the work there, the Bible study there, and just the spirit of that classroom. God, would you bless there. I pray you bless her fellowship as we have a fellowship. after the morning service, I pray that that time would be sweet in the Lord. But Father, now as we look to the word of God, I pray that the spirit of God would have his way in every heart, in every mind. And Father, I can't preach without your enablement. I pray the spirit of God to give me liberty to declare the truth of the word of God. And Father, I pray that you'd be glorified in the way this truth is presented this morning. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, so three things that we're gonna consider. The first one is kind of the biggest one that we're gonna consider, but three things that we can give back to God for all his benefits to us. And the first one is this, give him your conversion, all right? Give him your conversion. It says in verse 13, I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Okay, conversion is what we also call salvation. is a change of one's religious beliefs to true faith in Jesus, right? That time where they personally put their faith in Jesus Christ's death and his resurrection on the cross for them, and they receive him as their savior. Obviously in the Old Testament, it was faith in the coming Messiah as we put our faith in the Messiah who came, but there in the Old Testament, there's a great story of conversion in the life of a man by the name of Jacob. And the Bible says in Genesis 28 verse 20, and Jacob vowed a vow there in Bethel saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on. And if you think about what he's saying, he's saying, OK, God, if you're going to benefit me in all these ways that you've said that you want to prosper me, you want to bless me. then he's gonna make a definite decision to follow God. And so verse 21, so that I come again to my father's house in peace. Then shall the Lord be my God." Okay? So he looks at it and says, okay, God, you're going to do all these great things for me. God, I'm going to convert. I'm going to, right now, I'm in his life. He was a liar before that. He had deceived his brother. He had stolen the birthright. All these things had taken place in his life. God, in his mercy, reached out into Jacob's life. And Jacob responds saying, okay, God, you're going to do all these things. God, you'll be my God. And then he says in verse 22, this stone which I've set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give a tenth unto thee. Okay, so conversion is this. God is my God. I am going to follow God. I am going to serve God, right, and obey God. And so to be converted this morning, as we just think about it here in our text, First, you must understand your need, right? For somebody to come to faith in God, the first thing is that they must understand their need. It says in verse three, it says, the sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell get hold upon me. Verse four, then called I upon the name of the Lord. He didn't cry out to God. He didn't call out to God until all of a sudden life gets very real. There's death. The grave is facing him and as he considers those things, then he cries out, understanding his need. In 2004, there was a 9.4 on the Richter scale earthquake that took place off the coast of Indonesia. When that happened in Sri Lanka, nearby, the water receded from the beach. There are a lot of people that saw that happening and thought, oh, I've never seen anything like this before. This is amazing. I mean, the tide is just way out there. And they went out there in ignorance, not understanding that the water receded because a huge tsunami was coming, a tsunami that would claim 230,000 lives. But they passed by and they walked out into that place because they didn't understand their need. Surely there were people that were saying, wait, wait, wait, don't go that way. No, this is not good. This is not normal. Run to high ground, get to high ground. There were people that understood their need. They were able to save themselves. But those that didn't understand their need just simply passed on and perished. You know, there's billions of people in our world today that don't begin to understand their need. They don't begin to get today that the grave is coming and death is coming, that I had a man say to me, I'm living for life. And I said to him, if you're living for life where Tommy was with me, you'd be living for eternal life because that's where it at. This life is so very short. They say things like, I'll find out when I get there. They say things like, nobody has died and come back and told me. And it's just this complete disconnect in their heart from anything serious about life and about eternity. And so somebody to be converted, they've got to understand that their need. And the first thing here in our text is that they are bound by death. You're bound by death. It says in verse three, the sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell. get pulled upon me. Okay, as we study the scripture this morning, salvation is twofold, and you read it in the Bible. It's often, it can be physical, God saves physically. A lot of times when I talk to people about salvation, I say, have you been saved? They might say, well, I was in a car wreck and God spared my life, and they're thinking physically. No, I don't deny that God in his mercy spared them physically. In a sense, you could call that salvation physically, but what you understand they need is salvation spiritually. that there is an eternal death, that there is a lake of fire that they need to be rescued from. It's the spiritual aspects that we're gonna focus on as we consider this this morning. And so a man without Christ is compassed about, he's surrounded by death. COVID-19 is a very serious pandemic. It's brought death before us constantly. It's in the news all the time. And I saw recently an NHS doctor that said there's a lot of people come in with COVID, but he said this, not everybody leaves. Death is real. Death is sobering. We've got great sympathy in our hearts for somebody that's facing certain death. There's very many people that I personally pray for, my wife has prayed for, that we've heard about that have COVID. We've asked God as a church even to raise those individuals up because we don't want them to die physically. But we understand this today, that there's a death that is far worse than a physical death, and that's an eternal death in the lake of fire that the Bible speaks about in Revelation 20, verse 14. It says that death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And we can be burdened today about somebody that's terminally ill, and there's nothing that they can do about that terminal illness. But the thing about eternal death that we're talking about just now is that if somebody is eternally dead, there is hope, we understand. There's mercy. There's grace. There's a remedy. There's the gospel. There's the blood of Christ. They can be forgiven. They can be saved. But the thing is this, if they don't understand that they are dying, then they won't take the remedy. There's not gonna be a calling out. So it's not a bad thing here that the psalmist recognizes that he's got a need because it's gonna take him to Christ. And so he's bound by death. But secondly, with understanding our need, it's this, that you will face incredible difficulties in life. You'll face incredible difficulties in life. It says in verse three, I found trouble and sorrow. There's a man, he's got a good name, Tommy. His name's Tommy, all right? He was coming out of the mall in Livingston, and I was there, and I sat down with this man on a bench, talked to him about the gospel. You know, it seemed like Tommy was actually converted, that he'd gotten saved, and he told me a bit of his history, and I said, look, you need to get in church. And this pastor right here, Pastor Don Dillman, I mean, they have a great church. It's really close to where he lived. Tommy ever since then started going to the church. He's been going there about two and a half, three months now. And Tommy was riding the backs of the car on Wednesday as he came over to Don's house to eat. I was there with the Dillmans. And he said this, he said, you know what, I know like 50 people in the cemetery. He's 51 years old. He said, these are my mates. They died either of, he's got a rough background, a drug addictions background and pray for Tommy. As you think about Tommy, he's just a new Christian. But he said, you know, some of these, they were overdoses. One friend died this past week of cancer. Another friend died because he took his life this past week, and that's what he said. The other thing about those that he knows in that cemetery, many of them took their own life. You know, that's very sad, but it's just a reminder that, you know, in life, somebody can find trouble and sorrow. There was a 49-year-old man that I was speaking to down in Princess Street Gardens. He was smoking and drinking, and he said this, I like my life. What right does God have to tell me what to do? He didn't believe in God. I said, look, he's trying to set you free from the drink and the cigarettes that he had right there. He's trying to set you free from the things that are destroying your life. That, you know, sadly, you know, that man didn't recognize his need. He looked around, he didn't say, I found trouble and sorrow. He said, I found joy. I found delight, you know, in these things. And yet they're the very things that were destroying him. Another man I spoke to last week had just lost his sweetheart from high school of 13 years. She broke up with him and he was going through a tough time. He'd just been up in Edinburgh, I guess trying to just maybe forget about it type thing. And I said, you know what, it's okay in these times of life, tough times to stop and go, you know what, let me think about God. Because those are often the things that God uses, those trials in our life to make us understand our need. Again, I pity the person who's having a great life without God. I pity the person that's fine, I mean, their bills are paid, their marriage is great, and understand what I'm saying, everything's going fine, but God's not there. I feel badly for that person because it would be better for them to have a severe trial in their life so that they wake up and understand that there's a God, and understand that there's death and eternity and a lake of fire, that they cry out to God for salvation. It's actually a very sad thing. And you might wonder, why is it so difficult to reach people in Scotland? Our people here are wealthy. And people say, wait a second, there's all this poverty. We don't begin to understand poverty. Most people, and I understand, I'm sympathetic to those that might have a need today. Maybe you don't have food to put on the table. Maybe you don't have the clothes that they need to stay warm. But the vast majority of people in Scotland are blessed. Financially, they have more than heart could wish. They are wasting more than a lot of people make in a year in some other countries, right? And they are living life large without God. And Jesus said, hey, it's difficult for a rich man to get saved. Why? Because they've got everything. It's a great thing if that person wakes up and goes, you know what? Life's not all it's cracked up to be. I'm finding trouble. I'm finding sorrow. That's a good thing because we begin to understand our need. So to be converted, you've got to understand your need, but then to be converted, you must call upon God. It says in verse 13, I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. All right. He said, I'm going to, I'm going to get it. I'm going to call out to God. the hymnal that my boys have just sung from. It's called the Redback Hymnal. It's got some fun hymns that are in it that aren't in Our Majesty Hymns hymnal. One of those is called The Royal Telephone, okay? It's by Frederick Lehman. And it kind of interested me when I saw the words there in the hymnal. It says this, central, okay, the switchboard. Central's never busy, always on the line. You may hear from heaven almost any time. Tis a royal service, free for one and all. When you get in trouble, give this royal line a call. Telephone to glory. Oh, what joy divine. I can feel the current moving on the line. Built by God the Father for his loved and own. We may talk to Jesus through this royal telephone. That's kind of just a fun hymn. I mean, that's just kind of interesting idea, but it's the truth, isn't it? wherever we're at, whatever is in our life, we get in trouble, our life gets low, praise God, if it brings us to our knees, a humble and a contrite heart, oh God, thou will not despise, right? We cry out to God, that's a great thing because we got to call upon God to be converted. And so call out verbally. It says in verse four, then called I upon the name of the Lord. It's a good thing when a proud man finally humbles his heart and vocalizes it and voices it and gets it out there and says, God, I have got to have your help. My mom sent pictures from the 51st anniversary there at the church and the time there last week. And in one of those pictures, a man named Mr. Haskman, okay? His son, Dan, was the pastor of the Locksleys there in South Africa. But Mr. Haskin is a man that just doesn't age. And you look at a picture of him, he just looks the same as he's always looked. And so it reminds me of my youth. And Mr. Haskin saying to me, call me up and say, hey, you want to go with me out on my sailboat? I think I was back, I was in college, and he had a sailboat. His wife wouldn't go out with him. I should have taken that as a clue. But I could go, all right? So I get out there with him, and I mean, he's running around there. We're on a big body of water in the St. Croix River in Hudson, Wisconsin. It's about almost a mile across at some places, a very large river. And I thought he was an incredible, what's the word? Sailor, sailor. All right, so he's got the till. I mean, we're just getting close to the water, coming around and stuff, and it's going good. And he asked me, you want to take the till? And I said, no. But he convinced me, all right? So there I am. I got the tail. He just says, you know, we got that V up there. Keep the arrow between the V, and everything's OK. And so all of a sudden, we got a terrific sidewind, I think. But that arrow went out of that V, and I didn't do the right thing. Whatever I did was wrong. And what I know is this. The boat is tipping. I'm going up over the side that is up in the air. Mr. Haspen. is sadly going under the sign that's going under the water. And so the boat flips, Mr. Hasman disappears, there I am, I'm on top of the water and I'm thinking, oh no, I just killed a deacon in our church. Thankfully he bobs to the surface and the first thing I said to Mr. Hasman, I said, Mr. Hasman, Can we pray? There was a recognition of need. We did pray, and some people said they saw us waving our paddles. We didn't wave our paddles. They come over, helped us get our gear. It was a positive flotation sailboat, praise the Lord. We were able to stand the till up, lean on the till, right the boat. He said he had always wanted to try that, okay? So we did. I'm not gonna talk about the money we lost or the toolbox or anything like that. But you know what, when there is a need, It's great just to cry out to God. And to know that, you know what? When I pick up that line, that God's gonna hear me when I pray and I've got a need, I've got to get to God, that God is gonna hear me when I pray. You know, as I do evangelism, I witness to somebody, I speak to them about accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. I encourage them to pray out loud. And there's a biblical reason for it. I'm not saying if somebody prayed in their heart or made a decision in their heart that it's not salvation. But the Bible says this in Romans 10 verse 9. It says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And most people's testimony, now some, there's unusual stories about salvation, right? Some may not have the testimony of praying out loud, but in most cases, that person got on their knees, or got by their bed, or bowed their face down, and they said to God, God, would you please forgive me of my sin and save me? And at that point, as they trusted in Christ, they were born again. All right, that's a great thing to call out verbally, but then secondly, call out specifically. It says in verse four, O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Deliver my soul. That's a very specific prayer, isn't it? It's saying, God, just deliver me. That reminds me of the prayer of the publican, the tax collector in Luke 18, verse 13. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but he smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I mean, he's just broken before God, understanding his sin and understanding his error against God. And he cries out and he says, God, deliver my soul. I need your mercy. And again, it's a great thing for that person to pray very specifically, God, I'm a sinner. Your son, Jesus died for me. He didn't stay in the grave, but he rose from the dead. Oh God, right now, I'm just asking God, would you save me? A prayer of conversion. So call out specifically, but then call out dependently, call out in faith. It says in verse 10, I believed. Therefore have I spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liars. Okay. And again, with this text, I'm emphasizing salvation. All right. New Testament, this Old Testament, but it was always by faith. Conversion was always by putting dependence upon God and God's truth and God's word. And in our case, the gospel, Jesus Christ and his death, his resurrection. And I'm applying this, I believe, to the gospel. But the Bible itself and the Apostle Paul, their inspiration, the spirit of God applied this text to the doctrine of salvation and saving faith. He quotes this text in one Corinthians four, verse 13. He says, we having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, he's going to quote from our text, I believe. and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak." And he's saying the same thing. I mean, we trusted God, we took God at his word. I believe. Notice what it says in our text. He was in great affliction. We talked about that, the trouble and anguish, but it's also this idea in the next verse, he couldn't find help from men. The Bible says in verse 11, I said in my haste, all men are liars. It reminds me of what Psalm 60 verse 11 says. It says, give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man. Through God, we shall do valiantly for he it is that shall tread down their enemies. You know, a lot of people today think I've got mental needs, I've got physical needs, I've got emotional needs, I've got spiritual needs, I've got financial needs, and they say there's help in men, there's help in men, and they go to get counseling, and they go to get a loan, or they go to a physician, or they go to those people, and there might be some help there. But there's gonna be a lot of disillusioned people that looked at that for help, looked at that for solace, looked at that for comfort, looked at that for grace, and it didn't meet the need. And they'll say in their heart, all men are liars. There's nothing there. But then that person looks around and goes, give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man. Then he goes through God, we shall do valiantly for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. And he puts his faith in God. He says, I believe. You know, I wonder today, and I know our congregation this morning, so I know this to be the case, I think in almost every phase that I see here this morning, is that we have a personal testimony where we can look back and say, I believe, and therefore speak. I believed, and God did something great in my life, and so I can talk about what God has done. And so to be converted, you need to cry out. You must recognize your need. And then to be converted, you must receive the cup of salvation. It says in verse 13, I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. You remember at the cross, Jesus, before the cross, Jesus Christ is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. And as he's on his knees, he's crying out to the Father three times, he prays the same thing and it says, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He's talking about the cup of sorrow, the cup of sin, the cup of shame, the cup of suffering that he would have to drink for us to pay the price for our sin, right? He asked, God, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will. In a very real sense, Jesus Christ rises from his knees, walks out, takes the cup from the Father's hand. And it's the cup that he drank for us, the cup of death that he drank in our place, and what we need today is the cup that he purchased with his crucifixion. It's a cup of salvation that the psalmist speaks about, that drink that is the drink of everlasting life that God gives to us. Tonight, again, we get to observe the Lord's table, and it's a blessed service. I hope you'll be here if you can be here, but as we observe it, we've got some symbolic elements that'll be here. One is the juice, and the juice represents the blood. Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. He bought us, the Bible says, with his precious blood, Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins, so he gave his life. He drank the cup of sorrow, suffering, and sin for us so that we could drink a cup of Again, that's just symbolic. It's just a picture of what we did when we got saved. We took the water of life. We took the bread of life, the blood of Christ into us so that we could be born again and have God's gift of everlasting life. John 6 verse 56 says, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. And it's not today teaching us to actually drink the physical blood of Christ or eat the physical flesh of Christ, but it is speaking about this idea of spiritually that we would say with the psalmist, I will drink the cup of salvation. I will take that drink. You know, today, if somebody desires to do that, God is ready to hear you cry out in that way. And verse one, the psalmist said, I love the Lord. because he hath heard my voice and my supplication. Okay, the psalmist is writing this on the salvation side. It's already happened, all right? He's already looking back at the blessings. He's talking about what he went through and what he experienced and what he's gonna do because of what God has done in his life. So at verse one, he just says, I love the Lord because God listens. God hears me when I pray. Back in 1981, As a five-year-old child, the Spirit of God spoke to my heart. It's kind of like we're thinking about centrals on the line. You can hear God speak at any time. And as a child, I heard God speak to my heart about my sin and about hell. And I went down to my dad's study, and I bowed my head, and I prayed, and I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and save me. I wanna say, praise God. God heard me. And God desires to hear us, doesn't he? Isn't that the truth today? There might be some that would think, I just be wasting God's time, but God is there ready to listen to that person that'll understand their need and cry out to God and say, God, I need to be converted. God is ready to hear you. In fact, God is just waiting to help you. It says in verse two, because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. He's saying because God just kind of bent down there and he listened. Therefore, for the rest of my life, when I have a need, I'm going to get on my knees again. I'm going to cry out to God because God is inclined. God is listening. Our family, this past, a week ago Friday, we went to St. James Quarter down there in Edinburgh, the new shopping center and everything that they've got there and just kind of walked through it a little bit. And we walked into Legoland. And as you walk into Legoland, you've got all these guys with the Legoland shirt on or whatever, the gear on. There's like 10 of them. And it's not a huge shop. And it's kind of, you go 10 feet, and you got somebody there that says to you, hey, if I can help you at all, I'll help you. If you need anything, just let me know. And I mean, they're just, I mean, they are eager. I mean, they're there. They are inclined unto you. It's the same with us today. People can think, oh, God is distant, God is far off. No, biblically, that's not where God is. Biblically, God is just like the father and the prodigal son, just waiting, just hoping that that person is gonna humble their heart, understand their need, cry out to God and say, God save me, God save me. Those of us that have gotten saved, we identify with the psalmist. They say, I love the Lord because he heard me. And because of that, I'm just gonna continually pray and seek God. You know, Jesus did an incredible work for us on Calvary. What shall I render unto him for all his benefits? The very least thing somebody could do today is say, you know what, I wanna get saved today. I wanna be converted today. I wanna take the cup of salvation. I wanna call upon the name of the Lord. What a great thing to give back to God, what Christ deserves, our soul. Because of the work that he did on Calvary. So that's number one, and that's our biggest point this morning. But then secondly, give him your consecration, all right? Give him your consecration. To consecrate is to set apart as holy unto God. To set apart as holy unto God and to say, God, this is going to be set aside for you. And so first of all, consecrate your vows, your vows. It says in verse 14, it says, I will pay my vows unto the Lord now, in the presence of all his people. Okay, I'm gonna pay my vows now in the presence of all his people. When people go through a difficult time, it's a time where they may be saying something like this, God, if you just get me out of this. God, if it's a health thing, God, just get me out of the hospital. If you'll get me out of the hospital, God, I will. God, if you'll solve this big financial problem that I'm facing, it's a mess, my life is a mess. God, if you'll solve this, God, I will. It might be, I will go to church. I'll get in my Bible. I'll be faithful. God, I'll get the sin out of my life. You know, there could be so many things that in the midst of that moment, that person makes a vow to God and says, God, if you will, I will. It was a great thing having come through that. to then keep that vow. The pressure's off, you know, it's not there anymore. God in his mercy intervened, God in his grace reached down and it changed the life of that person. It's a great thing at that point to say to God, God, thank you. God, I'm gonna keep my vow. God, I said I would, and God, by grace, I will. Ecclesiastes five, verse four, it says, when thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it. for you have no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. And I'm not suggesting today that somebody in a trial ought to make a vow. They ought to cry out to God and say, God, please in your mercy, deliver me. I want to get saved, right? I mean, that'd be a great thing. I'm not saying today to make a vow, but there's very many people that will make that vow to God. And David was in that position. He had promised God, said, God, you meet my need, God, I will. And he goes, I'm just gonna let it be known. Maybe he promised, I'm gonna testify, all right? God, if you do this, I'm gonna let it be known, because he says, I'm gonna testify. I'm gonna keep my vow in the presence of all the people. So consecrate your vow, and then consecrate your life. Consecrate your life. It says in verse 15, Okay, unlike what the Catholic Church teaches, a saint is not somebody that has done a miracle or done some great things. A saint is just somebody who has put their faith in Jesus Christ, they've been sanctified. That means this, God took away their sin, gave them the righteousness of Christ, they have been made a testimony of the gospel and the power of the gospel, they've been cleaned by God, okay? And so, but notice what the verse says, precious in the sight of the Lord, Jehovah is the death of his saints. You know, this verse rightly has a prominent place at a godly man's funeral. You know, somebody that loved God and was a pious person that had a genuine affection for God, had a great testimony for God, what a great verse. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of a saint. So you stop and you think about why would the death of a saint be precious before God? Well, let me suggest some ideas to us. It's precious because it ushers us into his presence, right? Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I mean, we know that's precious to the Lord. Precious because it's the doorway into eternal life. I mean, that's us never to die again. I mean, we're gonna die once, live eternally. Death is just sleep to a believer, but that doorway into eternal life has been entered. That's precious. It's precious because sin can no longer separate us from him. Right, in life, we're still gonna fail God, that sin's gonna creep in, perhaps separate us from God, we're gonna transgress against God, but as we enter into eternity, it's never gonna take place again. Precious because he cares about our sorrow. We were talking on Wednesday night about that passage where Lazarus died, the shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept. And we're talking about why did Jesus wept, but I look back at the context, and we didn't talk about it further, but the context is Jesus saw their sorrow. And Jesus wept. And so precious, because if there was a casket here today of a dear departed saint, the Lord would know the heartache, right? Of the individuals that are in this room that know the loss of that person. Precious, maybe because he can say, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord, right? That's precious, again, in the sight of God. But precious, maybe because of this reason. They died long ago. and lived unto God with their life. Precious because though they died physically, in actuality, they died long ago. When they got saved, their life was consecrated to God where they didn't live unto themselves, right? They lived unto God because they had a consecrated life. Romans 6, 11 speaks about that. It says, likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. What a precious person that is to God, a person that's sanctified, right? Living for God, living a righteous life, that is a great thing. I can give that back to God. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? God, here's a holy life. Romans 12, one and two. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, right? Sanctified. which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God is a person that is saying, in my life, I wanna live my life for God. God, I consecrate my vows. God, I consecrate my life. And then consecrate your servanthood, your servanthood. And we'll look at the scripture here in just a second. But, you know, our family is grateful to God that he's allowed us to purchase a home. And we bought our home about four years ago. And the previous owner came back last summer. He tapped my door. I think he had some keys to give me. And so he gives those to me and I say, hey, would you like to come in? I talked to him about the remodeling we've done with the kitchen and opening up the rooms there. And so I bring him in, I show him that, I show him kind of around the house and the things that we had done. But you know, what he didn't say to me and what he could not say to me is this. Come in, walk into my kitchen and say, you shouldn't have taken the wall down, right? Or you can't do that. You can't do that. Or something authoritative to me about the property. Why? Because he doesn't own it. I own it. He therefore has no authority over it. because it's completely mine. You know, when it comes to salvation, when you and I got saved, God bought us. It's no longer our home. It's no longer, this is no longer my life. It's no longer my dreams. It's no longer my plans. It's no longer my ambitions. It is that I am bought by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, it says, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. God owns us on the outside. God owns us on the inside. It's no longer, what do I want to listen to? Where do I want to go? What do I want to think about? It's about, I am God's blood bought person. And so we ought to consecrate our servanthood. And so be God's servant. Notice what it says in verse 16. It says, oh Lord, truly I am Thy servant. Lord, truly, I am thy servant. Your servanthood in our day has kind of gone away, hasn't it? But if we could go back in time, perhaps to the 1800s, there would be numbers of servants in Edinburgh, in London, in these bigger houses, and they would be tasked with menial responsibilities that the owner didn't want to do, and the owner could say, the house, could say, do this, and they'd have to do it. They are obligated to do it. They couldn't say, well, you know, I'd really rather go do this or do this or do that. And the owner would say, no, no, no, no, you're my servant. If you're my servant, then what I say is what goes. Again, to us today, it's not me deciding whether I go to church. God does. It's not me deciding. about whether I'll give up that or not do that or do this, it's God does, right? We ought to be able to say to God today, truly, truly, I am thy servant. So that as best we can say, you know, before God is God, it's not my life, it's what God, do you desire me to do with my life? To do it like we should, we ought to be like God's servant, the son of God. It says in verse 18, Verse 16, I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. Okay, as you read that verse, and remember, a lot of Psalms are missing in it. And so you read that verse and you think, what's he talking about? David, I'm the son of thine handmaid. I really believe as we look at this verse that it is a reference to the son of God. And I think it's easy to see Christ in a lot of things in the Psalms, but surely here in this text, we can say, you know what? I see the Messiah in this Psalm. I see it in the verse that we just read. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. I think there's a great reference there to the most precious of deaths, the son of God that died for our sin. But we know that Jesus was the son of Mary. And so it says in the text, the son of thine handmaid. We know that Jesus was loosed from the bonds of death, right? The Bible says in Acts 2.24, it says, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should behold an oven. All right, Jesus is the great servant. Jesus is the sent one. Jesus Christ left heaven to come to earth, why? Because God the Father said to his son, go. Jesus Christ went to the cross, why? Because God the Father said to his son, go. And so with us today, we look at our life and say, God, help me to be like consecrated like the great servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that I could honestly say, God, truly, I am thy servant. We gotta be consecrated in our life as well. We gotta be consecrated in our vows. And then lastly, as we conclude here this morning, give him your conversion, give him your consecration. Then thirdly, give him the credit, give him the credit. It says in verse 10 that David said this, I believed, therefore have I spoken. Verse 18, it says, I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem, praise ye the Lord. You know, I wasn't there, I don't know exactly what took place, but I know this, that if you're in Jerusalem and you're in the temple, or the place of worship there in David's day, worshiping God, that you know about King David, and you'd know what God did in his life because he kept his vow and he publicly declared what God had done for him. The Bible says in Psalm 107, verse two, it says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. I mean, this person in anguish cries out to God, says, God, deliver me. Now that God's delivered them, let's stand up and let's testify and let's say to God's glory, I just want to say what God has done in my life. And so give him credit with thanksgiving. It says in verse 17, it says, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. All right, you're thinking today, what can I give to God? What would God really like as an offering that I could bring to God? You know, one of the great things that we can bring to God is just thankfulness. God just thank you. You know, we had a mission team, back when mission teams could come to Scotland, and a man came, he got off the plane, he was in a wheelchair on a mission trip, right? And he was a big man. And that was a surprise. We're like, oh, okay. And you know, this man, Just, he was such a blessing the whole time he was there. But I got to push him all over Edinburgh. If you've been to Edinburgh, you've got cobblestones. If you've been down to the Royal Mile and Princess Street, you've got a very big hill and a valley, and you've got a lot of distance. And actually, I pushed him up the castle as well, all right? So I pushed this man all over, but I'll say this, it wasn't a burden, it was a blessing, because nobody that I know was as grateful as that man. He was just thankful. He understood what I was doing for him, the work I was putting in for him, and he was just grateful, and he just said, hey, thank you. You know, thank you, when it's deserved, means a lot. I wonder what it would mean, again, to the heart of God today, just to have us, you know, have the sacrifice of Thanksgiving on our lips. Very quick to say to God, God, thank you, thank you. Thank you for all these things that you're doing. Give him credit with Thanksgiving. And then give him credit with praise. Notice it says in verse five, gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserved the simple. I was brought low and he helped me. You know, unbelievers, a lot of times they don't believe in God, but they'll say this, but if there is a God, I curse God. And many times they'll curse God, but they won't praise God, they won't thank God. And I just wonder how many times are we like, more like an unbeliever that will criticize, will be disappointed and will be unthankful. And instead of looking at our life and saying, you know what, I see what the Psalmist says here. He says about God, God is gracious, God is righteous, God is merciful, God is helpful. Now, again, I wonder the last time we just bowed our head and said, God, I just wanna praise you. God, I wanna praise you for who you are. I wanna praise you for your mercy. I wanna praise you for your grace. Give him credit with praise. And then finally, let's give him credit with testimony. Testify of God's goodness. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Again, that God, you've been good to me. And atheists, one of the worst things about atheism, I think, what's the big deal about atheism? What's the big deal about unbelief? Unbelief is this, a heart that totally does not acknowledge anything that God has ever done for them. But not David. David looked at it and said, ma'am, I spoke at rest because God, you have dealt bountifully with me. God, I give you glory, I give you thanks, I give you praise. Testify of God's salvation. Verse eight and nine. It says, 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. And again, there's a physical and a spiritual aspect to that, but he's saying, man, I was grieved, I was broken, and there were tears in my eyes, anguish in my heart and my soul. I cried out, I said, God, deliver my soul. And God delivered me. and testified of his salvation. Again, it's a great thing to see what God has done in your life. You know, I've been to the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, and they're in the mission, they have a program that they run on a radio called Unshackled, all right? It's like the old radio programs, they got the feet up there, they're walking on the woods, you know, and doing all the sound effects and things up there while they're recording that. But it's a mission for homeless people to come in, and what they're doing is they're doing that program called Unshackled, they're testifying of God's power that through saving grace has set somebody free from a life of sin, many of them drugs, alcohol, abuse, heartache, and they're testifying of it. You know, it's a great thing for people to do that. I enjoy in the States traveling down South in the United States, and we'll be at churches down South that are more free to speak about what God's done for them. You'd be up North and you ask for testimonies or something like that, just be kind of quiet. but not down south, typically. They'll say, hey, I just, brother or so and so, I just wanna praise God because God has been good to me. They'll say, I just wanna praise God for my salvation. They might just say the date, back then, as I've shared, 1981, I trusted Christ as my savior. I just wanna say, praise God. God's been good to me. And that's what this verse is talking about. We can give God the credit. We can give him thanks. We can give him praise. We can testify of his goodness to us. Again, King David was a man that thought about what he was giving to God. One more story about David. He had numbered the people and God in his judgment, because he shouldn't have numbered the people, God had sent a death angel and many people were dying in Jerusalem. Remember, David goes, he goes out to intercede for the people, and he gets there to the threshing floor of a man named Aaron. And Aaron asks him, he said, wherefore is my Lord the king come to his servant? And David said, to buy the threshing floor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Aaron has said unto David, let my Lord the king take an offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Aaron as a king given to the king. And Aaron has said unto the king, the Lord thy God accept thee. And Aaron just looks at what he's got. He's a gracious man. He says to King David, he said, King David, you just take it. Offer it to God. David, here it is. Worship God. May God accept you. But David says this. The king said unto Aaron, no, he says nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which does cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen. David looks at it and says, I don't want to offer to God something that didn't cost me anything. And so he buys it. You know, it's an easy thing, you know, that question, what shall I offer unto God for all his benefits towards me? You know what? And this is very sad. A lot of people, I can't be bothered. Right? I can't be bothered. I'm not really interested in the cross and the crucifixion. I'm not really interested in what Jesus did for me. I can't be bothered, right? Other people get on their knees and say, man, I don't understand, God loved me so much he sent his son Jesus Christ to die for me. I don't deserve God's mercy. But they get on their knees and they get saved and the angels in heaven rejoice. The Bible says over one sinner that repents and God has received glory through their conversion. Other people, as a believer, they live an unconsecrated life. They don't keep their vows. They don't keep their life. They're not, They're not living life for God. We could be somebody like that, or we could look at that today and say, you know what? God, you deserve me to keep my vows. God, I said to you, God, if you'll just save me and get my life out of the mess that I'm in, God, I'm gonna live for you. God, I'm gonna follow you. God, I'm gonna serve you. I'm gonna keep my vows. In fact, I'm gonna have a consecrated life. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints. Somebody that lived their life dedicated to God. And we can look at it today and say, you know what? God's been good to me. And I'll tell you, next time I go to testimonies, I'm not gonna be surprised, and you're not gonna be surprised. A little bit quiet, but let's break through that quietness. Let's break through. And say, God, I wanna testify with thankfulness. I wanna testify with praise. Because God, I acknowledge, and I just say to God, God, you've been so good to me. You've dealt bountifully with me. I want the congregation to know. Because God, you're worthy. What shall we render unto the Lord? for all his benefits towards us. Surely we could give him our conversion, our consecration, and the credit. Let's pray. Father, just pray now as we consider the word of God this morning. I pray that we'd look at our life. We're somewhere in that. We're somewhere in that. If we're not saved, we need to get saved and be converted. and give ourselves to God as a somebody that definitely decides, I believe. And I pray for that person today. I pray, Father, that they be born again. And Father,