Week of Meetings 12 What Shall I Render? — David Clifford

So, but maybe the congregation will praise me for it. So, we're very glad they were able to sing that beautiful song which is a favorite of us all. Thank you very much. So beautifully done. But no notice at all.

How about that? Very, very good. It's been my privilege through the years to go to various conference centers in different parts of the world. And indeed to conduct a conference center for about eight years, years ago.

But there's nothing just like part of the palms. Kind of unique. The atmosphere is always beautiful and the fellowship is so good. That we are loathe to leave. But of course we've come to the end now and we must go.

I was thinking today, I think one of these years I'm coming for three and a half months. So that I can get it all in and listen to some of the ministry that we've had. Now some complaining that their memories are failing.

I hope their memories don't fail them so much that they can only remember the last week. That's the only week I can remember. But you'll remember them all. Be a bad thing if you can only remember the last week.

And somebody will probably say to you well what did you think of Brother Clifford? Well he didn't hold me like some of the other priests did. They'd be saying things like that. Somebody will say well he was all right but uh his messages were like the homes of a fear.

A point here and a point there and a lot of bull in between. Well that might be so occasionally but I do trust there's been something from the Lord about the Lord to draw us nearer to the Lord. And of course our whole idea, as I'm sure is yours, is that the Lord Jesus should be exalted in the meeting, in part of the palms and in our individual hearts and lives and experiences.

One of your American preachers came to England some years ago and he thought he would go and hear two of our famous preachers. He wanted to hear Dr. Parker and Spurgeon. So he went on Sunday morning, I think it was the Metropolitan Tabernacle, to hear Dr. Parker.

And Sunday evening he went to hear Charles Haddon Spurgeon. So he said well what do you think? Well he said it's like this. He said Dr. Parker is a great preacher but Spurgeon has a great faith. Well of course I'm sure Dr. Parker was talking about the praises.

But the thing that impressed him about Spurgeon's message was he was exalting the Lord Jesus all the time. Oh for the tongue of an angel to do just this thing, to magnify our Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful great achiever.

Praise his name. Well it's been a wonderful experience for us and we should be glad of your prayers please. We should be thinking of you and praying for you all from time to time. And if you can spare a little prayer sometimes for the Lord's work in Bermuda.

Bible school we're starting there this week on Thursday God willing. And the end of September we go back to the Bahamas to continue where we left off there. It may be a little more difficult we don't know when we get to the Bahamas then, because they'll have independence then.

It's coming to the Bahamas on July the 10th as you know. And we should need some special prayer maybe. So think of us from time to time and if the Lord hasn't come between now and next September we begin to seek the answers to your many prayers I'm sure.

Psalm 116 and the Question of What to Render

Let's bring together a beautiful psalm of worship and praise. Psalm 160. Psalm 160. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord. O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous.

Yea our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple that is the lowly. I was brought low and he helped me. Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling.

I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believe therefore have I spoken. I was greatly afflicted I said in my haste all men are liars. What shall I render unto the Lord put all his benefits toward me.

I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

O Lord truly I am thy bond servant, thy bond slave. I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bond. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. In the courts of the Lord's house in the midst of thee O Jerusalem pray ye the Lord. My ways, saith the Lord, are not as your ways.

As the heavens are high above the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. In this psalm we see something of the ways in which God himself deals with his creatures and it's quite different from the way that we deal with one another.

As a matter of fact the psalm itself is full of paradoxes. We were talking a little bit about paradoxes this morning and saying that the Christian life itself is a paradox. God's ways of gain are seeming lost.

We die to live but his life comes as to the cross our lives we give. Now this psalm is full of paradoxes like that. For instance in verse three he says the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow and then he says in verse seven return unto thy rest thou my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.

In verse five he says gracious is the Lord and righteous. Think of that. And then he says righteous is the Lord and merciful. I'll explain that a little later on I hope. In verse eight he says thou hast delivered my soul from death and I'm going to walk before the Lord in the land of living.

And in verse 15 it says precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And in verse 12 which is the outstanding one he says what shall I render unto the Lord? What shall I give to the Lord?

I will take. What shall I give? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. This of course is a divine principle. Before we can give anything to God at all which is acceptable to him, we must take the salvation he is offering through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And there is a great principle here. God will not be satisfied with anything we can do for him or give to him, until first of all we take the salvation which he at such great cost through his son at Calvary has procured and purchased for us.

What shall I render? I will first of all take thy salvation. During the war there was a special meeting being held in Liverpool, and there were 200 merchant seamen there. And all of them had been rescued from the Atlantic.

Their ships had gone down, had been torpedoed, and they had been saved. Some of them had had dreadful experiences. Now they'd been invited to gather together for a thanksgiving service as well as a special kind of banquet meal.

And when the meal was over they gathered together in the chapel for a song service and an informal time. And they sang for those in peril on the sea, and they sang throughout the lifeline, across the dark waves, there is a brother whom someone could save.

And they'd all been saved themselves in the last few days from the Atlantic Ocean. And then before the actual meeting began, one young fellow came up to the preacher and said to him, excuse me sir, but are you the minister?

Well he said, yes if you like, I'm preaching here anyway today. Well he said, that'll do fine. They said to him, now have you, would you mind taking this envelope here for your church fund? It's from five of us.

Well he said, what do you mean? Well he said, we are making a contribution to your church fund, will you please take that? Well he said, I haven't told you what church I belong to. Well he said, that doesn't matter at all.

You take that to your church fund, there's money in there. So he said, well what's all this about? Well he said, and by this time the others had joined him, there were five young men talking to the preacher.

And they said to him, George who was speaking for the party, they said, well we were saved from the Atlantic and we promised to pay God back. So will you please have this envelope towards your church fund?

Well he said, I'm not sure whether I ought to take it. You see I'm not quite sure that this is the way to pay God back. He said, what happened to you anyway? Well they said, we were torpedoed and at least our ship was, and we were in an open boat for 13 days and 13 nights and were given our hope of ever being saved.

And then he said, Bill said to me, he said George we haven't prayed yet. We haven't tried prayer yet. So I said to Bill, well you pray then. But he wouldn't pray and none of the others would. They said they didn't know how to.

And I said to them, well I don't know how to pray either. But I'll tell you what, if you'll close your eyes I'll have a go. So he said, we all closed our eyes and this is what I prayed. Oh God get us out of this strait and we'll pay you back.

Amen. Now he said it was a miracle. We all think it was a miracle because we opened our eyes and we saw the Spanish ship on the horizon. Now we've seen ships on the horizon before. None of them had ever come anywhere near us, but this one did.

Came right to where we were. And of course we were picked up and we are here today and we promised to pay God back and God answered our prayer. So they said, now you'll take that towards your church funds.

Wasn't it half a minute before? I must explain to you the way to pay God back. And just as he was about to start, the bell rang and it was time for the service to begin. So they took their seats and and they had a prayer and another hymn, one of those sea songs that we all love so very much, and then my friend started to preach.

And I'm sure that in his sermon he explained the way of paying God back. Of really showing thanksgiving and gratitude to God for his deliverance from a watery grave and for all the blessings of this life.

And I'm not sure whether he used this text, but this was his idea anyway. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take thy salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.

And so towards the end he said, now is there anybody here who would like to pay God back like that? Instead of offering him something, take what he's offering to you. Don't despise his overtures of mercy and love and salvation Christ.

Take his salvation, take his son to be your own personal saviour. Is there anybody here like to pay God back like that? And God stood up. He said, I will sir. He said, come out into the front. Anybody else like to pay God back like that?

Take his salvation. And Bill stood up. He said, I will sir. He said, you come out as well. And they sat around a round table just in the front of the portrait. Now he said, wait a minute, anybody else?

And the other three came out. That made five of them. The five who were in that boat for 13 days and 13 nights and prayed that prayer together. And now they were going to pay God back in God's way. And he stopped the meeting while he led them to the saviour.

And they each for themselves received Christ Jesus, who is God's salvation for anybody and everybody. Received him into their hearts and lives as their own personal saviour. I will take my salvation, they said.

And they received Jesus. And then the meeting was concluded in a proper and orderly manner. What shall I render? I will take. Imagine a young fellow being caught in the grounds of Lord Snowden, shall we say.

The grounds of his home. He's evidently out to see what he can steal. But he's caught red-handed by Lord Snowden himself. He takes him inside. And of course, the young fellow is trembling from head to foot.

And he said to him, now what were you doing? And the boy is speechless. And he says, why were you trying to steal something from me? And the boy is speechless. And finally Lord Snowden gets it out of this chap that he's unemployed.

He hasn't got a job. He has certain commitments. And that's why he's doing this. And so Lord Snowden says, well now I'm going to give you a new start. I'm not going to condemn you, he said. I'm going to buy you a kit of tools.

And I'm going to introduce you to a friend of mine. I'm going to, I'm going to give you a real new start in life. And this young fellow said, well well sir, very very kind of you. But I'll have to do something for that.

What can I do? I'll come around tomorrow morning and mow your lawn for you. Lord Snowden says, now look here. I don't want you to mow my lawn for me. I've got a better lawn mower than you are. Now I want you to take what I'm offering and be thankful.

Nothing that you can do for me will be acceptable to me until you first take the salvation that I'm offering. God has procured for us a wonderful salvation from all our sins, and from the consequences of our sins in the person of his dear son.

Let us receive him and take God's salvation by faith. And then of course we can live for his praise and for his glory, and render unto the Lord. And although we can offer nothing to God for our salvation, when once we are saved there are many present-day sacrifices that we can make to God.

We never sacrifice to get salvation because of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. Sufficient sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. If you can work your salvation today, why did Jesus die? And he died because you couldn't save yourself.

You must accept God's salvation. But then you will work like any slave for love of God's dear son, I'm quite sure. And there's quite a list of scriptural present-day sacrifices that we believers can make to God for all that he's done for us in his son, and the salvation he's given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Condemned to Be Saved

Now there are really three special main ideas in this psalm that I wanted to bring before you this evening. First of all, notice how this man David, in his experience recited here, was condemned and convicted, but the result of it was his soul was saved.

And then notice how he was defeated and brought very low, but the result of it was he was lifted up and blessed abundantly. And then notice later on how that he was bound in a certain way, but in that bondage he found real liberty and freedom.

Now this is where these paradoxes come in. Applying it to ourselves, this is the message tonight. From the first part of the psalm, God condemns us that he might save us. And a few verses lower down, God defeats us that he might deliver us.

And then finally, I think it's verse 16, he says, God binds us that he might set us free. My ways are not your ways, saith the Lord. Now God condemns us first of all. Now we must do this, of course, as he did in the case of the psalmist.

Because, you see, we are guilty sinners, and he's a holy God, and he knows exactly what we are, and how we've come short in his glory. In his holiness, he must condemn us. But his whole idea is that he might save us.

He condemns us to save us. The psalmist says here, the sorrows of death comfort me, the pains of hell get hold upon me, I found trouble and sorrow. There he is under the condemning hand of God, brought very low with conviction of sin.

And God has done it. He's shown me his knees as a saviour. Remember he says, save us, I call upon the name of the Lord, O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul. He was under conviction of sin. The pains of hell get hold upon me.

This conviction of sin is a working of the Holy Spirit in the human heart. When a man is not born again, is not a committed Christian, is not really the Lord, the Holy Spirit often, from time to time, moves in the heart, very often through the preaching of the gospel, showing the man what a guilty sinner he is, and how he needs a saviour.

I remember Jim Boswell and I were conducting a mission in Eversham, in Worcestershire, a few years ago. It was a tent crusade, and there was a certain lady, Mrs. Tender, who came to every meeting, but she was not saved.

As a matter of fact, all through the crusade she was under deep conviction of sin. She was a quite a student in many ways. She studied many of the arts and sciences, was a worshipper of the sun god Ra, and was genuinely mixed up with philosophy.

And, but she was really under conviction during these meetings. And she told me, she said, you know I don't, I'm not sleeping at night. She said, I'm so concerned, I'm praying all night long. And she said, at five o 'clock I stop, and I go to bed for an hour, then I have to get up to get the breakfast to get the others off to work.

And you know, we had talk after talk, and argument after argument, and debate after debate, and she seemed to be no nearer. But she was really troubled in her soul. The pains of hell got hold upon her.

She found trouble, and she found sorrow. And I remember her coming the last morning prayer meeting at 10 o 'clock in the morning to the martyrs. When it was over, I went to her and I said, Mrs Pender, how are you feeling today?

Well she said, I'm no nearer. I said, listen, give up all your sciences, and all your philosophies, and all your reasonings, and debates, and tell me this. You do not possess in your heart and life Jesus Christ the son of God as your own saviour, do you?

She said, no I don't. I said, he's the one you need, he is your only saviour. Now I said, don't say anything wonderful, but something very simple. Ask him to come into your heart and life now. And she closed her eyes and said, Lord Jesus son of God, come into my life.

Amen. And the burden went, the conviction departed, and she was the Lord. If you feel tonight, or any time, that the Holy Spirit of God is cutting your heart, pulling at your heartstrings, telling you you need a saviour, suggesting to you that you ought to get right with God, reminding you you're not going to last on this earth forever, and there's eternity beyond.

And when the Holy Spirit, through the word, through the preacher, or on his own, apart from anything at all, sometimes, he speaks to your heart about your need of a saviour. Respond to the Holy Spirit of God, and the conviction will depart, and the joy of the Lord will be your strength, and Christ will be your saviour.

You know, God always condemns us first, because he's holy, and he saves us next, because he is love. What's the good of me teaching the love of Christ, the love of God, and his son, if I don't preach to you your sinnership and need of a saviour?

And God, that always condemns us first, he sent the law to condemn people. God's law, God's standards, it came to none, it never saved a soul. But it showed many people, many souls, that they needed a saviour.

When they saw God's standards, that they said, oh wretched man that I am, I've come short of all this, I'm a guilty sinner, I am, I'm a transgressor of God's law. So God condemns us first, but he might save us next.

I think in one sense it's true to say that God sent his son to condemn us, as well as to save us. You know that he was the standard of righteousness, God's standard, when he was here upon earth, and people in his presence were condemned very often.

Peter said, depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord, you are the most holy one. Now he said, I'm going to the Father when the Holy Spirit comes, he will convince you of sin of righteousness, and of judgment of righteousness, because I go to the Father.

The Holy Spirit will tell you what God's standard of righteousness is when I go, but while I am here, I am God's standard of righteousness. And when they were in his presence they shriveled up, and they got away, and they walked away.

One by one they departed, they felt their sinfulness in the presence of God's standard of righteousness, the holy, spotless, the son of God. So in one sense it's true that Jesus came to condemn men, because of his absolute holiness, on their lack of it.

But of course he came to save men from their lack of holiness, and to impart to them his own blessed be his name. On the cross he died to take away our sins, and today he lives to give us his own personal holiness, the moment we trust him as our savior.

And so he says here, the pains of hell got hold upon me, I found trouble and sorrow. God always condemns us first, that's what he sent the Holy Spirit for. He will convince you of your sins, and of God's standard of righteousness, and of judgment as well.

Thank God for the work of the Holy Spirit in the world today, condemning men to our sinners. But of course he doesn't leave his work finished at that point. He goes on to reveal to men the law of Jesus Christ, and to unite them to him in a wonderful union.

Faith as Union With Christ

Now faith is the marriage bond between Christ and the believer, or the other way around the believer and Christ. And when I say I will to the Lord Jesus Christ, then all his blessings and his full salvation become my personal possession.

And of course all my debts were chargeable to him as well. When I say that I'm thinking of an old English law, an old English law, where two people, when they were joined in matrimony, the moment he said I will, then legally at that moment all her debts became chargeable to him, and all his possessions became hers to share.

Now the men didn't like this, so they had the law changed. So it's not like that today ladies, I'm sorry to say. But it is like that in the spiritual sense. Because the moment I say I will to the savior and trust him, then all his blessings become mine.

Blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. And of course all my debts become his responsibility. But he with his fierce vision and prophets eye foresaw this, and he came a long time ago to pay my debt.

And it cost him so much to do it as well. His life he gave, his precious blood he shared, that my debt might be cleared forever. The old account was settled, praise God, long ago. Well now here in verse five, the psalmist says gracious is the Lord and righteous.

And then he says righteous is the Lord and merciful. Now in God's grace he gives to us what we don't deserve. In his mercy he withholds from us what we do deserve, because of our sin, that's judgment.

You see the difference don't you? In his grace he gives us what we don't deserve. In his mercy he keeps from us what we do deserve, doesn't he? And it says here that God is gracious and God is merciful.

Now in between the two, God is righteous. Now how on earth can God be gracious and righteous at the same time? How can he, on a righteous correct basis, give to us what we do not deserve? And the same question arises, how on earth can almighty God, who is righteous in all his works and ways, keep from us the judgment that we do deserve because of our sin?

How can he do it? Now your judges in this country can't do that. They might attempt to do it occasionally, but they're not supposed to do that. They have to dispense righteous judgment. And if a man is guilty, they're just charged in their mercy to keep them back.

But God can. God can give us a full salvation and we don't deserve it, and he can do it righteously. You know why? Because Christ died to pay for it for us, and he can save us from our sin. And we don't deserve to be saved eternally from our sin, but God can do it righteously.

You know why? Because Christ paid the debt on the cross itself. And now through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. You see, Romans 1 16 is the favorite verse of ours which says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to those that believe.

But there's another reason why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and it's in the next verse. And it's the most important reason, it's the subject of the whole of his epistle to Romans, the righteousness of God.

Because he said in verse 17, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because in it is the righteousness of God revealed. And God, he gives us a full salvation righteously, and he keeps us from the consequences of our sin when we pass his son on a righteous basis.

He is merciful. Therefore if ever you are saved by the grace of God, you are delivered from hell, you will owe it all to the Lord Jesus who died to pay the cross, and to bring to you eternal blessing.

And that's why tonight we're inviting you to put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. For he is your only salvation, with him there is no hope. Without him there is no hope. Now imagine in Britain, one of our magistrates or judges having a young fellow there in front of him in the dock.

And the crime, according to the book here, is that this man has been caught stealing, entering and stealing, whatever is the correct term for that. And when the judge comes and sees this young man, he recognizes him, he knows his father.

As a matter of fact, this young fellow's father is the judge's personal friend in the city, and he has a great desire to let him off because of his friendship with his father. But he can't, he says, I'm a righteous judge, I have to dispense righteousness, I can't let him off.

And the young fellow is found guilty, and the judge, he pronounces the verdict, and he tells him what the fine is to do. The fine, or else so many months down below. And then he himself, when the case is over, he goes round the back, gets out the car, drives home, or has a chauffeur to drive him home, and then he gets to his desk and he writes out a cheque for the amount that he has imposed on this young fellow.

And he sends his son back to the court office to pay the fine. And so the man is free. And thank God for all that he has done. We have sinned against him. This young fellow had, we should have said, broken into the judge's home itself.

And we've sinned against God himself. He himself, in his righteousness, has imposed the fine. Yes. But he himself has sent his son to pay the fine by his death, and the shedding of his blood. And now we, receiving what has been done, find a full salvation.

You see, God condemns us first because he's righteous, and then he saves us next because he is loved. God hates the sinner. God hates the sin because he's righteous, but he loves the sinner because he is loved.

And for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. But whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Not only does God condemn us for slavery, but God defeats us to deliver us.

Defeated to Be Delivered

Notice in verse 6 he said, the Lord preserveth the lowly, I was brought low and he helped me. Now God cannot bring a man into the blessings which he has for him, until he has first of all defeated him.

Until he has first of all conquered him. The psalmist says here, I was brought low and then it was he helped me. Now there are many examples of this in the Word. Jacob, for instance, was touched and crippled by God at the brook Javok, and it was in that very attitude that he became a prince with God.

Saul the passer, on the way to Damascus, was blinded and broken and bent, and in that very attitude he became a chosen vessel for the Lord. To declare his word among the Gentiles, Asaph in Psalm 73 tells of his experience.

It is my heart and my flesh faileth. And when you read it up the first time, you say what a shame. Asaph must have been in a bad way. But now he goes on to say, my heart and my flesh faileth, but now God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

God defeats us, God brings us low, God makes us weak, God robs us of our own self-will so that he might bring up his blessings and lift us up. God defeats us to deliver us. Why does he do this? Well I suppose we are so self-willed.

We think we can do it ourselves. I suppose that we feel sometimes of ourselves, we are strong enough, we are too strong for God to bless us. I was brought low and then he helped me. And that is often the case.

Look at Gideon for instance. The Lord tells Gideon, and Gideon said, how can I deliver Israel? He said, listen my father's house is weak. The poorest house in the whole of the tribe of Manasseh. That's just what I want, said the Lord.

And it is, and I'm the most insignificant in the whole. That's what I want, said the Lord. How shall I save Israel? I will be with thee. Go and this thy might have not I sent through. And then you remember, he blew his trumpet and he sounded, who is on the Lord's side?

And various tribes came and stood with him to fight the Lord's battles against the Midianites. And then it was, God said, there's too many people there to fight my battles. Let Israel go and tells and say, mine own hand has saved me.

You see, no flesh of glory in God's presence. That's his eternal principle. If he's going to be glorified through mankind, it will be by his own mighty power and by, not by the struggling of their flesh.

So it wasn't, God said, send them home. Just a mere 300 left. And 300. And Gideon against the host of Midian was just nothing at all. And God said, that's what I want, just nothing at all. And nothing at all plus almighty God always fails victory.

I was brought low and then he helped me. We're too strong to go sometimes. Because you see, his strength is only made perfect in weakness. When we come to an end of ourselves, to which end corner, when we get right to the limit and give up, then God can come in with his almightyness and do a new thing, you know, for us and for us.

God not only condemns us to slavery, but he, he hates us to deliver us. I was sharing a crusade with Dr. Alan Redpath in a Birmingham town hall some years ago, during the war. And I remember on a Sunday afternoon we had a mass women's rally.

And there were hundreds and hundreds of women there. A very, very good meeting. And at the end, Alan Redpath made an invitation. And there was a lady sitting not far from me, who was responding to the invitation with others.

And I had a little conversation with her afterwards. And I said, glad to see you responded to the invitation. Can I help you? I said, how far have you got? How do you feel about this? Well, she said, young man, I'd like you to know that I've lost everything in the recent blitz on Birmingham.

Well, I said, I'm very sorry to hear that. I said, did you lose everything? She said, listen, I've lost everything in the blitz. I said, well now, tell me, madam, you've lost everything in the blitz. What do you want now?

She said, now I feel I want to save you. And I never felt that before. And sometimes God has to deceive us to deliver us, as well as condemn us to save us. And not only so, but God binds us to set us free.

Bound to Christ for True Liberty

This is toward the end of the psalm, where he says, O Lord, truly I am thy bond slave. I am thy bond slave and the son of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. What is the interpretation of this lovely verse?