Psalm 116 verses 10 through 19, these are God's words. I believed, therefore I spoke, I am greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liars. What shall I render to Yahweh for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of Yahweh. I will pay my vows to Yahweh, now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of Yahweh is the death of his saints. O Yahweh, truly, I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of Yahweh. I will pay my vows to Yahweh now in the presence of all his people, in the courts of Yahweh's house, in the midst of you, Jerusalem. Praise Yahweh. So you see in verses 10 and 11, to believe, to have faith, does not mean to stoically bear whatever comes. Faith doesn't keep its mouth shut. Faith opens its mouth to the Lord. He says, I believed, therefore I spoke. This is how faith responds to trial, not by trying to bear it ourselves or in ourselves, but crying out to God. It is not unbelief to cry to him, to tell him that we are greatly afflicted, to tell him that all men are liars. And so we see that faith does not agonize in silence, but it cries out to God. Now, the Lord heard him. You remember from the first half of the psalm, it says, Then I called upon the name of Yahweh, O Yahweh, I implore you, deliver my soul. And then verse 8, you have delivered my soul from death, my eye from tears, my feet from falling, and so forth. So the Lord heard him and The rest of the psalm really answers this question in verse 12, what shall I render to Yahweh for all his benefits toward me? And the answer is determined by the fact that God is God. He is self-sufficient. Everything belongs to him. He upholds it all. He doesn't need anything, as he tells them in chapter 50 Verses 10 through 12, the cattle in a thousand hills belong to him. He doesn't need animals to be sacrificed. And so this is the God whom we repay by receiving. I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of Yahweh. We worship him. with worship in which he is not benefited, but he benefits us. As the Lord Jesus says, when we have done all, we should confess that we are unprofitable servants. We have not added anything to God. Luke 17 verse 10, or as we heard not too long ago at the end of Romans 11, who has first given to God that he should be repaid? You cannot give to God, you cannot add to God, any good or any glory. From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. And so we make vows to worship God according to his word, but even in his worship, it is he who is doing us good. And this is not surprising considering verse 15, precious in the sight of Yahweh is the death of his saints. Now it's true that when we come to die, the Lord has a special care for us and he has cared very much to redeem us from death and he has compassion, et cetera. But that is not what is meant by precious in the sight of Yahweh is the death of his saints. The word precious here is a money word, is costly. And twice in the psalm, in the first half of the psalm, talked about Yahweh delivering us from death. And we understand how costly it was. I mean, for the God who has everything, the God to whom nothing could be added, what could ever be costly? How could something be costly to Him? Except that He added humanity to Himself in humiliation. The second person of the Godhead, the Son, humbled himself to take the form of the bond slave and be found in appearance as a man, humbled himself to the point of death, humbled himself even to the death of the cross, all these things from Philippians chapter two. And so indeed, even for the great and glorious infinite God, the deaths of his saints delivering us from death has been very costly. and we see the greatness of God's love and the generosity that he is willing to lay out great riches, even himself. the indescribable gift, as scripture calls it. So indeed, costly in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And by this purchase, price of Christ, he has delivered us from all other slavery. He says, O Yahweh, truly I am your servant, your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. The Lord paid the price to take us out from our slavery to sin and our slavery to wrath and our slavery to fear. and to make us his freed slaves instead, in which we get to rejoice to be his servants and belong to him. And so the response again, verse 17 through 19 are again answering the question, what shall I render to Yahweh for all his benefits towards me? And again, we offer worship. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. The worship of God has always been a spiritual thing first and foremost. He doesn't need bulls and doesn't need goats. We've read and studied in Leviticus how these were ways by which he gave man to draw near to him and to communicate to us that he was giving to us to draw near to him by faith through the once for all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the great thing that you should give God is thanksgiving and prayer, which is worship. and praise. Notice verse 14, I will pay my vows to Yahweh now in the presence of all his people. Verse 18, I will pay my vows to Yahweh now in the presence of all his people. Two things there. One, you want to respond immediately or as soon as you can because all his people are not always gathered. but as soon as you can, and then the other thing is that public worship is prioritized over private. In the presence of all his people, verse 18, in the courts of Yahweh's house, in the midst of you, Jerusalem, yes, we are worshiping in the secret place of the heart. You see that in verse 17, the sacrifice of thanksgiving. or as Hebrews 13 calls it, the sacrifice of praise, when talking about not being jealous of not being able to participate in the feasts of the Jews, because we have a table of which they have no right to partake, because we have the reality in Christ himself. And so we offer to God the sacrifice of praise. We offer to God the sacrifice of fellowship, sharing with one another. And we share with one another in the worship, in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the Lord's house, of Yahweh's house, in the midst of Jerusalem. And the psalm concludes, praise Yahweh, hallelujah. We will spend eternity marveling at the greatness of his benefits to us. and responding to him with the one thing that he requires of us, tells us to give in response, worship, in which he himself continues to bless us. Because that's how you know you have the living God. He doesn't need anything from you. The way you, what you render to him for all his benefits is to continue receiving from him. Praise God, let's pray. Our gracious God and our heavenly Father, we thank you for this portion of your word and the opportunity to read it and study it and to be singing it this week. We pray that you would help us now with more understanding, not to sing it rotely or robotically, so long as we continue to have it every week at the table. But do, Lord, press upon us the amazing truths. You are the God from whom and through whom and to whom are all things, and no one can profit you at all. And so help us to respond to your benefits by worshiping you, and be glorified, O God, as in that worship you are the one who gives us cup of salvation and listens to our cries and fills us with joy. We praise you for how you have redeemed us to belong to you and freed us from all other slavery. Grant to us to live in that freedom and joy and thanksgiving we ask. In Jesus' name, amen.