If you will to the book of Psalms number 116 Psalm 116 as you're turning there, of course we do Welcome you to our worship service this morning. Certainly do pray the Lord's blessing on this portion of our service Psalm 116 will be my text this morning and seeing we are surrounding our entire service around the holiday of Thanksgiving, the subject of Thanksgiving, and I'm not normally a holiday preacher. I think this is one of the very few true Christian holidays that we have. So I don't mind being a holiday preacher when it comes to Thanksgiving. But seeing where our surrounding our thoughts around that subject this morning, I think it's good. I want to ask you on the one hand, what is a very simple question, but it can be a very difficult and trying one for us to answer because it requires some honesty on our part. I just want to ask you, I want you to contemplate this morning, do you really have a heart and a spirit of gratitude before God? That's a question you can only answer for yourself, but I will tell you it's more than just saying thank you. I hope you do that, but it's more to it than that. It is showing thankfulness and faithfulness in your life. Are you really thankful for what God has done for you? That's kind of my premise this morning. I read a story, and I don't know if this story fits really to my message, that's why I'm putting it at the beginning, but since I'm preaching, I can tell it if I want to, about this man who went into a bank one time to visit his banker, and he went up to him, he was a farmer by trade, and he walked into the banker's office, and he said, now, I've got bad news, and I've got good news. And the banker said, well, tell me the bad news first. I cannot make even my mortgage payment. And he said, on top of that, for the past ten years you've had to loan me money for my crops and I can't pay any of that back either. In fact, the $200,000 you loaned me on my farm tractors and other equipment, I can't even pay the interest payments on that. And he said, so I'm going to have to give up everything and you take it and salvage it, do the best you can, get what money you can. And so the banker looked at it and he said, for a moment, and he said, well, he said, my goodness, what's the good news? He said, well, I've decided I'm still going to do my banking business with you, you know. Now, I don't know if that fits or not, but I tell you how I feel when I come before the Lord. I feel absolutely bankrupt. I do. Listen, folks, we are bankrupt when it comes to being able to even begin to pay God for all his blessings in our life. You understand that. We cannot even begin to repay him. And the thing is, he keeps right on blessing us. He keeps right on raining down his riches on us every day, you know. So what do we do? That's the question. What shall we do? What can we do? The psalmist ponders that question in this psalm, and I'm gonna preach a little bit differently this morning than I normally do. It'll be more of a survey, more of a expositional kind of thing from Psalm 116. I don't know if it'll be a message so much as just kind of a verse by verse exposition before I finish this thing, But the psalmist really ponders that question. And my text, my main text is found in verse number 12 when he says, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? Isn't that a good word? For all his benefits toward me. I mean, think about it. How can I even possibly begin to repay him for all that he has done in my life? Now the good news is, that's really what grace is all about, you know. But understanding, folks, that I cannot even possibly begin to repay him, and I hope you understand that as well, then don't you think that that should cause such an intense feeling of gratitude and thanksgiving in our lives, to the point of we're not ashamed to publicly thank God, you know, for all his blessings to us. We're not ashamed to lift up his name in praise and adoration. Folks, God is so good to us. Now that's basically what my subject is about this morning as we survey this psalm. Listen, folks, we ought to be a thankful people. We really should. I read a humorous story about this lady who was visiting this farm one time and she noticed that there was a pig limping around in the backyard. It had a wooden leg. And so she decided to ask the farmer about that pig, and the farmer said, oh, Betsy's such a special pig to us, and we're so grateful to Betsy. She said, well, one time the house caught on fire, and old Betsy began to squeal and oink so loudly that she woke us up. And don't you know that we were able to get out of the house just in time, and the fire truck showed up in time and saved our house. And the woman said, man, that is a special pig. He said, well, that's not all of it. She said, one time, our smallest boy fell into the pond. And Old Betsy came running back to the house squealing and oinking so loud, got our attention, and we got our boy out of that pond just in time. And the woman said, man, that is absolutely amazing. And he said, but what's the deal with the wooden leg? He said, well, Missy, with a pig that special, and we're so grateful to him, there's no way we could eat that pig all at one time. That's gratitude for you, isn't it? Listen, folks. We ought to be a thankful people. You understand that? I can tell you this, everybody that is sitting here this morning, is blessed with far more than you need. I can tell you that. I can tell you also that every one of you sitting here this morning is blessed with far more than you deserve. Listen, if you got what you deserve from God, you would be in a sad and a sorry state, I can tell you. I mean, we ought to be a thankful people. Listen, every good gift Every perfect gift that James says is from above, and it cometh down, and the idea is, and I quote that to you all the time, but the idea is it actually rains down upon us every day of our lives. And we ought to be a thankful people, and that's really what this psalm is about. This psalm is about an individual whose heart is overflowing with praise and adoration and thanksgiving unto God. I would tell you folks, it would do you good if you would just begin to count your blessings sometimes. I'm talking about add them all up, you know. And when you do that and you see what God has done in your life, your heart would overflow. You would stop your griping and complaining so much, and you begin to thank God for all His blessings in your life. Your heart would overflow in adoration and praise unto God for all His benefits, as the psalmist describes it, literally all His blessings that He has bestowed upon your life. Now, I like the way, even though I'm not gonna try to read all these verses to you, we will go through them kind of chronologically this morning, but I like the way the psalmist starts this passage out. He starts out by four very special words. He starts out by saying, I love the Lord. Now, ain't that a good way to start out a psalm? You understand, the psalms are songs. Man, that is a glorious way to start out a song. I love the Lord. He is not ashamed, folks, to publicly declare his love for his heavenly Father. I love the Lord. I know that we are commanded to love one another. I understand that. That, as a matter of fact, that is one of the marks that we are really saved. That's the litmus test, you understand. That we love God, but also that we love one another. I know that we're commanded, but I'll be honest with you. I thought about this, folks. Sometimes, some of us are not easy to love. You know, sometimes, some of you, you gotta work a little harder to love you. Maybe the same with me. Sometimes, some people are so ornery and cantankerous, man, it takes the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart to love them. Some people are hard to love. Like this, I told you this story about this woman who went down to the police station, reported her husband missing, you know, and the police officer said, well, describe him to me. She said, well, he's about 6'2", and he has deep blue eyes and wavy black hair. He's got a good athletic build to him. He's the nicest man you ever want to meet. One of the police officers said, lady, I was listening in. He said, lady, I know your husband. He's 5'3". He's fat. He's bald. He smokes cigars. He rarely ever bathes. She said, I know that, but who'd want him back, you know? Some people. are kind of hard to love. Let me tell you something, folks. God is easy to love. I'm talking about when you begin to look at how God has blessed you in your life. God's not hard to love at all, you know. Listen, you think of the blessings in your life, you know. And I'm talking about the basic things that we don't even think about. And what David says here is, I love the Lord, in the first verse, because he hath heard my voice and my supplication. Basically what he is saying, I love the Lord because of what he has done in my life and what he is yet doing in my life. You begin to count up your blessings. Folks, and you'll find out that God has blessed you far more than you need. I understand. You gotta understand that. God has blessed you. You think about, for example, of your home. Now, I know none of us live in mansions. I know that. But I guarantee you, every one of us live in homes that keeps us warm and keeps us dry, you know. Unless something unusual happens. I'm thinking of Sister Connie. Most of our homes keep us pretty dry. You know, now you complain about winter all you want, but I guarantee you none of you are freezing to death in your home. If I get too hot or too cold, all I got to do is adjust the thermostat. Ain't nothing to that. God has given you a nice home. Now I know I'm being overly simple this morning, but folks, these are things that we don't think about very often. You think about all God has done in your life. You think about in the clothing that you wear. Listen, my closet is full of clothes that I rarely wear. Really are. I hate clothes shopping. I admit to you, I hate going to buy clothes. But I've got more clothes than I'll ever wear out. You know, things have changed a whole lot since I was a young boy. Listen, I wore hand-me-downs all the time. Many of you have been through that. I rarely ever got new clothes. I got new clothes, my mama would buy me new clothes on Easter and on Christmas, you know, that's about the only time I got new clothes. Maybe when I started school, I got a new set of clothes. I always wore hand-me-downs. I don't see many children today wearing hand-me-downs, you know. I told the men last week, one of my proudest days as a little boy, some of you understand this when I say it. One of my proudest days as a little boy, when I got me a nice, shiny pair of penny loafers. I love penny loafers. And they wouldn't knew, they was handing me down from my brother. And I, man, I was proud as a peacock. Now, a penny loafer, for you young people, you don't know what that is, maybe, but, man, that had a little slot on the tongue, and I got me a shiny new penny and put it in each one of those tongues, you know. I was the coolest cat around. I had a pair of penny loafers, you know. And now I got more clothes that, listen, I will grow out of them before I wear out of them, if you know what I mean. God has blessed you. You think of the food that you have. Listen, there are 15 million children that die every year from starvation worldwide. I don't see any of you going hungry. As a matter of fact, you look at our waistlines. Very few of us miss a meal. I ain't talking about just sitting and thinking about all the blessings of God in your life. God has been good to you. Instead of being grumbly hateful, as I often say, you ought to be humbly grateful. Some of you are just grumbly hateful. You complain about what you don't have rather than being thankful for what you do have. I'll tell you what'll be good for your heart. I'll tell you what'll be good for your soul, is being able to rejoice in what God has given to you. That'll make you a different person. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and wallowing in self-pity. If you'll learn to rejoice, folks, in what God's given you, man, it's good for your heart, it's good for your soul, it's good for your spirit, it's good for all those that's got to put up with you. You'll learn to rejoice in what God has done for you. And that's really what this psalm is all about. This is a psalm of thanksgiving, of praise and adoration. And this morning I want to approach this, I'll do it in a slightly different way. I just want to survey my way through this psalm and talk about an individual whose heart is overflowing with gratitude and praise. I gotta ask you, do you really have a heart of thanksgiving unto God? Do you really realize everything you have is being given to you as a gift from God? If you do that, folks, you're not ashamed to render praise and adoration. You're not ashamed to live and dedicate your life to him because everything's given to you as a gift from God. Now, I'm gonna approach this differently, but it's kind of easy to do this. This psalm naturally divides itself in three very simple ways. Let me just go through them very quickly. In the first place, in verses one through four, we have what I would call the prayer of the psalmist. Now, I'm not gonna read those right off the bat. We'll get through them in a moment. But I want you to get the picture of what's going on here. Listen, this psalm was written, you can go back and read it for yourself, during a very difficult time in the life of the psalmist. As a matter of fact, the psalmist seemed to have been in dire straits. In fact, verse three, in verse three of this text, the language is not very pretty. In verse three, he says this, he said, the sorrows of death got hold upon me. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me. In other words, it was written at a time of utter destitution in the life of David. It was written during a very difficult time in his life. And you know what? in spite of his problems, in spite of his pain, he starts this whole thing out by saying, I love him, I love him. Folks, let me tell you, if you would learn to do that, I mean, instead of feeling sorry for yourself, render praise and adoration unto God. He says, the sorrows of death come past me, the pains of hell got a hold upon me. And in spite of that, David says, I cried out to the Lord, and you know what? He heard my cry, he heard me. Can I say to you, one of the things that ought to make you the most thankful is that God hears you when you cry. He does. As I said last week, listen, God is not a God that is way off. God is a God that is near. If you feel way off from God, it is because you have moved. God has not moved. Now, notice in the first place, the psalmist's perception under this heading. In verse one and two, he says, I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications, and because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. I love, I love that image, you know. But it is so typical of God. In fact, one of the themes throughout the Psalms is the psalmist would cry out and God would move and act on his behalf. In fact, he says here, pictures God inclining his ear unto him. Isn't that a glorious image? It means more than just God will hear me when I cry. It carries the idea that God is almost anxious. God is not just attentive to me when I cry. God is anxiously awaiting for me to cry out. And then the idea is that he bows down his ear, he then anxiously and actively intervenes in my life. If you got bad stuff happen in your life, You need to understand if you're a believer, if you're a child of God, God is bowed down his ear, anxiously awaiting for you to call. Why on earth do we not take advantage of that more in our life? So we have his persuasion, then in verse 3 we have his pain. Again he said, the sorrows of death come past me. and the pains of hell got hold up on me and I found trouble and sorrow. Now, the picture is it had gotten so bad in David's life that all he could see in his life was nothing but trouble, nothing but sorrow. I have been there, I've been there. Blessed Sister Joanie come to me before service and told me about breaking her shoulder, and then she began to list all these things that had happened to her this week. You know, that's bad, that's sad. You know what? It happens to everyone. You ever get to the place where it seems like nothing but trouble and sorrow happens in your life? The picture is here when David says the sorrows of death come past me. I'm told in the Hebrew, it literally means, it speaks of a fierce aggression. It carries the idea of an animal stalking his prey. Hey, death is our enemy, you know. Death will stalk us from the time we're born. It is our enemy. The idea is things have gotten so bad in the psalmist's life, it was almost like it was literally squeezing the life out of the psalmist. Hey, you are going to have bad stuff happen. You are going to have sorrow and suffering in this world. It is ordained of God. You are going to have pain. You are going to have problems. You are going to have heartaches in your life. The problem is some of you never find the peace In spite of those things, that true peace in spite of those things. So we have his pain, we have his perception, we have his pain. Thirdly, notice his petition. I love verse four, then, underline that. Let me just throw this in. It doesn't make sense. When you're having problems, you turn away from God. I've dealt with You name it, about any situation you name. I don't want to get particular because you think I'm talking about you. Maybe. I've dealt with people who have terrible things going on in their life. And they end up turning and running from God. It don't make sense. He says, the sorrows of death come past, the pains of hell God hold up on me. And then he says, then called I upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, he says, deliver my soul. That's it. He comes crying out to God, deliver my soul. Now let me tell you something. You could complain. I know you can't. I could complain about things that's happening in my life. I would dare say that none of us could complain quite as much as David could complain. David had some bad stuff happening in his life. I used to love to read Charlie Brown comic strips, still do. I still like watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. I haven't grown up a whole lot. But I used to love reading Charlie Brown comic strips. I remember one that came out around Thanksgiving. when Charlie Brown was carrying Snoopy's dog bowl out to him, you know, with food in it. And since it was Thanksgiving, Snoopy thought he was getting something special. And Charlie set the bowl down there and it was full of dog food. And the whole cartoon was Snoopy staring up at Charlie Brown. And then he finally said to me, he said, now, see, what is this? This is Thanksgiving. The other people are enjoying all the world, enjoying turkey and all the trimmings. And since I'm a dog, all I get is dog food. And so he sat there for another minute, and finally he dipped his head and started to eat, and he said, well, it could be worse. I could be a turkey. Hey, folks, it could be a lot worse. Stop your bellyaching. Stop your complaining. And render praise for what God has done in your life. Then called I upon the Lord. Lord, I beseech thee, I beg thee, I plead with thee. deliver my soul. It's not the time to run from him. Not the time. So we have, in the first place, the prayer of the psalmist. Then, in verses 5 through 16, which covers the majority of this psalm, we have what I would call the protection of the psalmist. Now, I'm glad, and again, I'll read some of these verses to you before we finish, but I don't know about you, I'm glad that the majority of this psalm talks about God's protection on us. Listen, God takes care of you. Be not dismayed whate'er be tied, God will take care of you. Beneath his wings of love abide, God will take care of you. God watches over us. Now, notice first, under the setting, a proclamation is made. I love verse five. He says, gracious is the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. Isn't that a tremendous verse of scripture? So much pact. into one verse. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Tell you what's glorious about that. You very rarely find those two words together in the scripture. I mean, the Bible does talk a lot about God's grace. God is gracious. The Bible does talk a lot about his righteousness. God is absolute righteousness. But rarely do you find those two words together in the scripture. You do in this verse. Gracious and righteous. God is gracious. And God is righteous. And then he adds a third word. You never see these three words together. He is also merciful. Sure is. God is gracious, God is righteous. And I'm glad God is merciful. By the way, I marvel sometimes that we live as long as we do. You know? The only reason you are is because God is merciful to you. God, the only reason you're able to draw a breath right now, God is merciful to you. You know. And the idea is here that he is so merciful and so gracious, so righteous, he says in the next verse, verse seven, the Lord, or verse six, the Lord preserveth the simple. I don't, for some reason I honed in on that one statement. It describes me to a T, I'm pretty simple. And the reason I say that, the Hebrew word there speaks of someone who is gullible. Someone, what's the word I'm thinking of, naive. You know, someone who falls so easily for the tricks of the devil. You know, that's me. And God preserves the simple, thank God for that. And then he even says, I was brought low, and he helped me. The phrase there, I'm told, literally means I was drained dry. Do you ever feel like that? Guarantee you have. Some of you are feeling like that right now. There's stuff going on in your life, you've tried everything you can do, and it keeps, I mean, it sucks the life, and you get to the point where you absolutely feel drained, completely dry of your resources. I'm glad God is gracious, God is righteous, and God is merciful, you know. He goes on to say, return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with me, for thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. God is gracious and righteous. Man, thank God God is merciful. So we have this proclamation. Then notice in verse number nine, quickly a promise is made. He says, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Isn't that a great thing to say? Because what God has done for me, now here's why I'm gonna ask you, are you really thankful? The idea is it's more than just thankful in word, it is thankful in your life. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. of the living. The idea is I'm going to dedicate my life. Listen, there is nothing profane or vulgar or filthy that's going to come out of my mouth. Some of you church members need to learn this, by the way. I'm not going to bless God with this mouth and use the same mouth to curse. You need to watch your mouth, church members. I've been around some believers, folks, and some of the stuff they say, it is shameful. I am gonna live my life. I'm gonna dedicate my life to him. I'm gonna be faithful to him. Some of you need to learn what faithfulness really is. God, listen. And the idea is, the psalmist is saying, it doesn't matter what happens in my life. I'm not mad at God. I'm not gonna turn my back on God. God has never turned his back on me. I'm not gonna quit on God. God has never quit on me. I'm gonna walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Isn't that a glorious, glorious statement? Then in verse 10-11, we have his persuasion. He says, I believed, therefore have I spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liars. By the way, ladies, don't get excited about that verse of Scripture. If you had your amen fans we have, you'd be waving right now. That's right, preacher, all men are liars. The idea is that all mankind are liars. Listen. The arm of flesh will fail you. You dare not trust your own. I got bad news for you. Every one of you, ladies included, you're all natural born liars. It comes now, we've come forth from the womb. As soon as we're born, speaking lies, it's not hard for me to lie. Comes natural. What's hard sometimes is to tell the truth. The idea, man is not, listen, the answer does not lie in man. The answer's not in the priest, certainly. The answer's not in a preacher. The answer's not in the vain philosopher of this world. The answer is in God. That's the idea. Then he closes out this section with praise. He said in verse 15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Isn't that a glorious verse of scripture? Now, would you believe there's some people that have problems with that verse of scripture? They have trouble with it. All it really means is that when it comes to one of God's children experiencing physical death, that is a precious event in the eyes of God. And I'll tell you what, it is also a precious event for the child of God. Death is not It is not a defeat. Death is a victory. O death, where is thy sting? And O grave, where is thy victory? Death does not tarnish the glow and the glory for the child of God. Death opens up the door into the presence of God. That's the idea. So we have, quickly, I know it's after 12, we have the prayer of the psalmist, and the majority of this passage deals with the protection of the psalmist. I love how he closes this section out, verse 16, oh Lord, truly I am thy servant, and I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid, and thou hast loosed my bonds, hallelujah. Hey, that verse sounds like a contradiction. On the one hand, he's proclaiming his liberty, and yet he's proclaiming his servitude. You set me free and now I'm a slave. See, it doesn't make sense. The idea is God has delivered us from the bonds of sin. You set me free from the bonds of sin. Now bind me with the cords of love. That's the idea. Last section we have. the profession of the psalmist, and you read that in verses 17 through 19, but I love how he closes, by the way, the way he closes this passage out, he says, praise you the Lord. The whole song, praise you the Lord. Here's what's special about that. That phrase is only one word in the Hebrew. You know what it is? Hallelujah. That's a great way to close out a song. Starts out by saying I love the Lord. Closes this song out by saying hallelujah. Sometimes I'll begin to sit and think about how God has blessed me in my life. And I get overwhelmed. I really do. And I get tongue-tied. I mean, you don't know what to say. And I could bore you by beginning to list all these things that come to my mind. Hallelujah. The psalmists, you read all this psalm carefully, and you'll see a man who really had thanksgiving in his heart. Some of you say, thank you, Lord, and it's very hollow and shallow. I mean, you think of all the ways the psalmist showed his love in this. He says, I love the Lord, I'll trust the Lord, I'll take the salvation of the Lord, I will pay my vows, I will walk before the Lord, I will pray, I will praise. The list goes on and on and on. And by the way, he says, I'm gonna do it in the courts of the Lord's house. Listen to what he says. In verse 18, I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Don't tell me I love the Lord, but I don't need to go to church. God's people want to be in church. You shouldn't have to be invited to come to church if you say you're saved. Verse 18, I'll pay my vows unto the Lord now and the prince of all his people in the courts of the Lord's house. In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem, praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah. That's what he said. Question is, do you really have a heart of gratitude? You just begin to think about what God has done for you. Some of you have turned your back on him. You've fallen away from him. Folks, you need to realize what God has done in your life. I read about this old boy who graduated college with a degree in accounting. And he took his CPA test, certified public accountant test, and he passed it with flying colors. He was proud of himself. So he planned on going back and helping out his daddy. His daddy was an immigrant to this country. And he and his wife came over and they build up a little business and the boy came back and he was going to impress his daddy with his knowledge. And he got in there looking over his daddy's books and he said, daddy, he said, this is a mess. He said, I don't know how you know what you're making and what you're losing. He said, you got your accounts receivable in this box piled up. You got all your receipts in this box piled up. You don't even put your money in the bank. You got it in the safe. You don't even know how much you make. It's a mess. And his daddy said, son, it's kind of simple. When your mother and I came to this country, I had a pair of pants, and that was it. That's all I owned was a pair of pants. He said, now, your brother is a doctor, your sister's an art teacher, you're a CPA, your mother and I own our house, we have a car, we own this business. He said, son, you add all that up, and you subtract the pants that I already had, And that's a profit. I know you got problems, folks. I know you got heartaches. But you add it all up, guarantee it, and you subtract those things, and you'll find it's a profit. What shall I render? I mean, have you ever sat and thought, how can I ever begin to repay God for all his blessings in my life? It's what grace is all about. But folks, I'm not ashamed to tell you this morning, I love him. Everything I have has been given to me as a gift from God. I owe him my life. I owe him everything that I have. What shall I render unto God? Everything. Everything. Let's stand.