Psalm 116 says, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Well, that goes well with we loved him because he first loved us. You know, it's like I've loved the Lord because of what he has done. We need to glorify him instead of what we call Christian songs these days, is all ooey gooey and about us. You know, it's really about the person, you know. I was listening to somebody this week, it was probably Dave Hunt, because he really gets on some of these choruses. He would say, you know, we'll sing all this, I will praise Jesus, I will praise Jesus, I will praise, well, why don't you just do it? Don't say you're going to do it, just do it. You know, if you wanna praise Jesus, then praise Jesus, you know. You love Jesus, well, love him then. Just, why don't we quit talking about it? Let's do it, you know, let's actually do it. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me. Well, when you think about it, that's kind of a big deal. In the first place, it's who we're talking about. I mean, this is the almighty God. Why would he listen to me? But hear me, I mean, you know, it's hard to get people to listen to, you know. I can get my boss to listen to me a little bit, and his boss maybe a little beyond that. They don't care what, you know, what I have to say is not important. It doesn't filter it that much. You know, the president doesn't want to hear what I have to say. I mean, our president Twitters a lot, but I doubt he reads much of it, you know. He probably doesn't care the other way around. But when you've got someone that great and mighty, just that he hears us, is amazing plus there's a lot of us you know this is a world full of people and he hears us all he does he hears us therefore will i call upon him as long as i live the sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell got hold upon me i found trouble and sorrow well you know that doesn't sound fun but that's a good place to start we need to realize that we're dying I mean, you know, sometimes you talk about people, you know, having near death experiences or somebody on their deathbed or something like that, but we're all dying. I mean, everybody. I guarantee every one of us is less than a hundred years away from dying. Period. You know, it's like, get ready. You know, we need to think about it. And, you know, the sorrows of death have come with me, the pains of hell got away. Well, without God's intervention, that's where we go. We should be sorrowing because of that. But then I called upon the name of the Lord. Oh Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Okay, I'm dying. I'm going to hell. So what do you do? Lord, deliver me. Well, that's a really good start. Gracious is the Lord. and righteous, our God is merciful. Okay, so catch that. Gracious, grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. It's the undeserved good that he gives to us. But then he says, and righteous. So God is not only gracious, he's also righteous, which means he has to give just punishment. So how do you reconcile grace and righteousness? When you get called into traffic court, you're probably just gonna get righteousness. You might get a lenient judge that's gonna be gracious and let you off, you might. But he's really not doing his job right if he does that. We wouldn't want a judge to let a murderer off just to be nice. But how can God be gracious and righteous? Well, the answer is in the third clause. Our God is merciful. How can he be merciful? Mercy because of what Jesus Christ did. It preserves God's righteousness because the price is paid. And it's merciful because it was done on our behalf. It's undeserving as we are. So God is righteous and gracious at the same time because of the mercy of Jesus Christ. The Lord preserveth the simple. Well, that's nice. The simple can be just the simple in the sense of unsophisticated, but can also be the not too bright. I remember I was, back when I still lived in Lawbrook, I'd come to Dallas with a friend of mine, and his dad was driving, and we were in the back seat, and he was driving down 635, you know, okay, 635, you got four lanes, you know, everybody ripping down like they're at the Indianapolis Speedway, and he was in the right lane. He was saying, okay, he wanted to take the exit for Sherman, okay, and the exit for Sherman, if you remember in the old days, was a left-hand exit. It used to be coming, going east on 635, it was a left-hand exit. It's the only one I know of, but it was a left-hand exit. So he was driving along, and he was saying, okay, you know, everybody watch, watch this Sherman exit. And we were saying, it's a left-hand exit, because we'd seen the sign or something. He's like, no, they don't have left-hand exits on these things. So we were in the right lane. And then when the sign comes up to make the turn, he's like, oops. Cranks it over, we went across four lanes of traffic and out the exit way and we're just going, ah, just knowing there was an 18-wheeler back there or something about to crush us any moment. And he said, God takes care of the simple. And off he went. So I think that's a little bit misuse of this verse, but I'm glad it worked that time. He said, I was brought low and he helped me. return unto thy rest on my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. He started off saying I was in sorrow encompassed by death but he called out to God. God has been gracious and merciful and so now he could be at peace again. For thou has delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." So God has spared us from death. He spared us from hell and punishment. Therefore, out of our gratitude toward Him, we need to walk while we're in the land of living in a way to honor Him. 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." So our part in salvation is just to take it and say thank you. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all these people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. So that's a familiar verse. Doesn't mean he necessarily likes watching people die, but it's a precious thing because God cares about it. So that God takes care of his saint, as we saw in the parable of the rich man in Latin, he sends his angels to go and retrieve them and bring them into his presence. "'Oh Lord, truly I am thy servant. "'I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid. "'Thou hast loosed my bonds.'" Well, he set us free from sin and the penalty of the devil. The devil had a yoke upon us, didn't he? He had a claim against us. But Jesus came and broke that claim. Now Satan doesn't have that claim upon us anymore. "'I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Do you think of it as a sacrifice last week as you're eating all that pie and all that? But what kind of sacrifice does he want? Well, this is even in Old Testament times, but then he's talking about the sacrifice of Thanksgiving. When we give him praise and honor and thank him for what he's done, that's like our sacrifice upon the altar. Remember even in the old temple, what did they have right before the entrance to the Holy of Holies? They had the altar of incense. And the incense represents what? The prayers of his people, the lift up before him. We should give thanks and honor, and that's like incense lifting up before him. 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. 117, Fray mentioned last week. If you want to memorize an entire chapter of the Bible, I suggest you start with this one. And if I counted correctly, there's 33 words in this, okay? And praise is in there three times. So you've got 10% of it down. So can you say praise? Okay, you got 10% of it down already. Okay, so. And if you can say, Praise the Lord, we've got even more than that. So this is a good one to start with. Oh, praise the Lord, all ye nations. Praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord. You think about that. Oh, the truth of the Lord endureth forever, okay. But nowadays they want to say, well, science has disproved the Bible. Wait a minute. Does the truth of science last forever? They can't even make up their mind. They can't, you know, they're always changing what they believe and think. But God's word stands forever. It hasn't changed and it's still just as good as it ever was. It's still completely valid. So let's praise God for that. Again, more Thanksgiving. Psalm 118, oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endured forever. Well, that's what we're counting on. It's amazing that we've got his mercy, but it's, enduring mercy at last. Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let them now that praise the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever." I kind of see this, remember they did these by the singers in the temple until you had all the descendants of Aaron that were singers there in the temple. I kind of see this as a, what do they call it, antiphonal, where you would say one and say the other. So I can just see the main spirit saying, let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth forever. Of course, over and over. Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever. So it's a chorus response. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me?" We need to remember that. As we get to fearing man, it's like, look, if God is on our side, let's not worry about what man can do, whether it's government persecution or persecution from other people. If we're right with God, then we're okay. The Lord taketh my part with them that help me. Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Well, that's pretty good advice. I remember that a lot when I look at our politics. And when you look at the choice you have among candidates and things like that, it's like, it's better to trust the Lord than put confidence in man. Man just doesn't come through very well. And you think about it, and I appreciate the privilege that we have to vote and campaign and do things like that, but I know perfectly well that my vote doesn't have very much influence. I mean, a little, but not much. It seems like there's some elections everybody I vote for loses. just i almost want to not vote for him because i feel like i'm cursing him you know or something but but it's better to put our confidence in god our trust in him because his promises will will come to pass it is better to trust the lord than to put confidence in princes okay not just man in general but in uh Powerful leaders. All nations compass me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They compass me about, yay, they compass me about, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. Well, that sounds mean, but think of Israel. They've always been compassed about by enemies. I mean, right now, they're surrounded by the majority of the Muslim population in the world. They're completely surrounded. And they've shown many times that they've all even gotten together and attacked them and this and that. But it was that way in the old days. I mean, they were stuck between Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt. And even if they weren't out to get Israel, they were busy tromping Israel on their way through to fight each other. So they've always been encompassed by their enemies. They come to me about like bees. They are quenched as the fire of thorns." Well, have you ever taken an old thorn bush, old brambly bush like that and burned it, throw it in a campfire? What happens? Hoof! Big pile of sparks in it, and they're gone. I mean, it makes a big flash, throws off a lot of sparks, but they're burned up in just no time at all. So they're quenched like a fire of thorns, like boom, it's out. For in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation. Which I think is interesting. Okay, the Lord is my salvation. You know what that word for salvation is in Hebrew? I don't know many Hebrew words. I mean, amen, that's about, I don't know, but that word for salvation is Yeshua. You know what Yeshua is? Joshua. You know what's great for Joshua? Jesus. The Lord is my Jesus, my salvation. God even named him salvation. I mean, God tries to make it easy for us. We're not too bright, There it is, the Lord is my strength and song and salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death. Now, God will discipline. I was talking about that in Sunday school, but he will discipline, but he disciplines us because we're his children, and he loves us, and there's a difference. He's not out to destroy us. He's out to prune us, to make us more fruitful. Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go into them and I will praise the Lord. This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter, I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner." Now wait, we're in the Old Testament, not the New Testament. I thought that was New Testament. Well, of course, it's quoted in the New Testament. Paul calls Jesus Christ the cornerstone, that the foundation of the church was laid by the apostles and prophets, but Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. And he's even the headstone of the corner. That's the one that sets the orientation, everything for the entire foundation. But it was the stone which the builders refused. He was rejected. by the Jews, but he's the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." Notice that's done in the imperative. It's a choice, it's a decision. Didn't say you have to feel like rejoicing. It said, look, God has made this day. We choose to rejoice in it. So some days when we don't feel like rejoicing, when things aren't going so well, we don't feel so good, whatever, then we can still choose to rejoice and be glad, and we can choose. I remember a book I read years ago, it was kind of strange. These scientists were doing experiments on facial expressions, and so they were trying to document all the different muscles and things that you make different expressions from. Maybe they wound up being the one making all these emojis now, I don't know. But, you know, there's certain muscles that cause a frown or a smile or a smirk or this and that. And so they had documented this. I mean, these are, you know, PhD researchers, and they documented these muscles. But as they were doing this research, they, you know, learned to control those muscles and make those expressions. And this guy that was interviewing them and writing the book, there was one, I don't remember what it was. It was some kind, you know, one of their, facial expressions, and I don't know what it was, it was kind of a deep anguish kind of thing. So this guy was demonstrating these different emotions, he would do the facial expressions, okay, you know, this is that, and this is that, and do the different ones, but he said, I don't like to do that one, because it makes me feel that way. So just by making the expression, it actually changed the emotion, and this one was such a, intense emotion he said it just really said we were getting really depressed when we were working on that one because we kept making this expression it just really you know anguish caused us to feel anguished and it didn't so how you choose to do does make a difference in how you actually feel you can choose to rejoice and be glad even if you're not particularly happy Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. So I'm sure there's some TV preachers that probably like that verse a lot, but prosperity doesn't necessarily mean money. When you're prospering in the Lord's work, when you're being obedient, staying out of sin and witnessing, whatever, those can all be prospering. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, which has showed us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even under the horns of the altar." You know, remember the altar at the tabernacle with the big brazen altar out front, and they would build, you know, those horns on each corner. And then I guess they use those to help tie down, you know, you tie down the sacrifice. Getting ready for that. So, thou art my God and I will praise thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever. So we're just off base when we're questioning the goodness of God. And we all feel that way sometimes. If bad things happen, we think, you know, how could God be good to let all these things happen or whatever? Well, it's an axiom, okay? Remember geometry? Remember what it started with? Yeah, they made you prove everything, which I thought was really stupid, because I already knew that 2 plus 2 was 4, but in geometry, they made you prove it. It's like, wait a minute. Why do I have to prove it, you know, or that two complementary angles, you know, equal 180 degrees or something? It's like, well, I can see that. That's obvious, right? They have to, because there's a straight line on this end. Nope, got to prove it. Got to prove that that all happens. Well, the axiom is God is good. That's the axiom that you build upon for everything else. So when something happens, you say, well, I know God is good. So how does it, I may not be able to make the connection, but maybe I will. What was the movie? Oh, those Christians, they had a second one. It's where they wind up. having the evolution debate or whatever. Had that one guy that is the preacher, and he had the visiting preacher from Africa. Yeah, God's not dead. God's not dead. And he was playing, I think it's the guy that produces those movies, was playing this pastor, and he was getting really, really discouraged. Everything was going wrong. He was, what was he doing? He was about to take a vacation, go to, the visiting pastor from Africa really wanted to go to Six Flags or something. They had the car ready to pack up and go and take this trip. About to go in the car, it kept breaking down and all this kind of stuff. And it wasn't working out. And he kept reminding him, I kept saying, God is good. And the response was, what? All the time. And he said, what? All the time. God is good. He kept reminding him, you know. So, till finally at the end, he comes out with his suitcases and everything is getting ready to go. And they towed the car. They'd done, you know, everything had gone wrong. And he's like, oh, well, he set his suitcases down on the curb. He's like, oh, well, I'll try to start the car one more time. You know, this and that. And he's like, uh-uh, uh-uh. He said, do you believe this is really going to work this time, guys? And the last guy was like, yeah. He said, then put the suitcases in the car. Don't leave them here. Put the suitcases in the car and then try to start it. Then we'll see. Or in, it was kind of like in, what was it, Facing the Giants. the one from the Sherwood pictures, they had the man that would come down and pray for all the students, and he'd touch each of their lockers and pray for each of the students during school, and then, you know, school revival, it's before the revival broke out at the school, and the coach is about to get fired and everything, and he's really, really discouraged, and the man tells him, he says, you know, he said, there were two farmers. that were praying for rain. He said one of them just stayed home and prayed for rain, but he said the other one got out and prepared his fields, was ready for the rain. Now, which one had faith? He said, well, the farmer that prepared his fields. He said, then go prepare your fields. Then I found it interesting in the commentary and stuff, the extras you can watch after the movie, the man that played the part of the man that went by the lockers and prayed for each one was an alcoholic. in his life, he was a drunkard, and his life was just falling apart. He and his wife got divorced and this and that. And one of his daughters, although he was still in high school at the time, just really felt he needed her, and so she went and lived with him. after her parents' divorce, she went and lived with him. She was a Christian. She felt the Lord really wanted her to do that. And she was able to witness to him. And he surrendered his life to Christ and got saved and turned his life around, got off alcohol and this and that. So I really, I like knowing that when I see him praying for all the kids at my school, what has really happened in his life, that God really did turn his life around. So the definition is God is good. Now, we may not understand it. We may look around and see how can bad things happen and all this sort of thing. It's like, no, God is good. So, we may have to look a while before we figure out how it works out. But God has his ways and his purposes and it will work out for best because his mercy endureth forever. Somehow, God knew that it would be better to give man free will, that Adam and Eve, he knew perfectly well that Adam and Eve were gonna sin in the garden and bring all this death and suffering on this world. God knew that, didn't he? And he allowed it. And God is good. So he had a reason. Somehow that the fall happened, I mean, God created everything and it was good. So how can you get better than that, right? Everything was good. It was all very good. But somehow, by allowing the fall, all the things that have come from it, and then God redeeming us and bring us back is even better than if it never happened. Now, there's been a lot of pain and suffering in the middle, but somehow, that is good and the only way i know is is you know it says the angels you know desire to look into the things of man because i think they that It demonstrates God's mercy, God's goodness of what he's done. Even though all these bad things have happened, it demonstrates that in spite of how awful we are, God still came and died on the cross. God still redeemed us. It's good that Jesus came and suffered on the cross. That just why? Because it brings more glory to God. I mean, maybe it didn't make our lives more comfortable or whatever. I mean, I kind of like the idea that I never could have sinned. I used to pray that way to God. I'd get frustrated. It's like, God, just don't let me sin anymore. Just don't let me. Why do you even let me sin? Just shut that off. Just don't even let me do anything I shouldn't do. And it's like, well, dummy, don't do it. But it's good, because God is good, because his mercy does endure. So if there'd never been sin, how would we know about God's mercy? We wouldn't, because it wouldn't be any place to demonstrate it, right? But his mercy is demonstrated in us, and boy, is it demonstrated in us. I mean, we have pushed it to every limit you could possibly think. So God is good, and his mercy does endure forever. Okay, well, finally, we'll be up to Psalm 119. As I've said before, it's probably my favorite psalm for several reasons. One, I thought, it's an incredible piece of literature. The 119th Psalm is unbelievably well organized. I thought, how do you do that? And it's all done in Hebrew form poetry, and it's all done, it's an acrostic, it's ABC, alphabet, and also all the way down by each letter, and it has some incredible patterns in it and all that that I really enjoy, but I think why I really like it is an incredible ode to the Word of God. It talks about the Word of God. It honors the Word of God. It's all about the Word of God. And I think that is the probably biggest missing thing we have in the church today, is honoring the Word of God. I mean, we've been blessed with it, because we have it in our own language, there's so many times in history that it was difficult to get a Bible in your own language. It's been illegal to own a Bible in your own language. It still is in a lot of places. China, a great degree, even though officially it's not. North Korea, it definitely is. I told you about the fishermen last week, didn't I? The North Korean fishermen that were so desperate for Bibles even though it's completely illegal, it's an automatic, get caught with the Bible, it's an automatic 15 year labor camp sentence, which is pretty much a death sentence. But they were so desperate, when they meet somebody else and they said, what do you really want the most? They said, Bibles. Bibles, so that's what they want. So the word of God, we're so blessed with it, but we neglect it. We take it for granted, we neglect it. We don't honor it, we don't, We spent so much time explaining it away. I think that so many translations is in some ways a bad thing. I'm not talking about for different languages, but I mean, there's what, 36? There's at least 36 different English translations. There's probably more than that, but that's what the group, I think I mentioned it before too, they're trying to do a computer, artificial intelligence software that can translate the Bible basically on the fly for any style that you want. They're going to translate the Bible in the style of Hemingway, which I find rather ironic. I mean, Hemingway was a terrible atheist, you know? Didn't believe in the Bible. Why would I want a Bible in the style of Hemingway? I'd rather have it in the style God wrote it, you know? But we've got all this, and I think it just distracts from, you know, this is God's word. It's very important, but Psalm 119 lifts up the word of God very highly, and I think that's it. The word of God is the way of salvation. You don't get saved through the praise band. You don't get saved through the great orchestra singing Handel. You get saved by the word of God. And what I think so good about Handel is it's all the word of God. But the word of God, that's what the power is. The power to salvation is the word of God. It's just there. And Psalm 119 does a wonderful job of exalting the word of God. So I think that's what I like best about it. I'm amazed at its structure, but I like the fact the way it honors the word of God as we should. So we'll try to start in on that next time.