Last week we observed that Psalm 116 is one of the Egyptian Hallel Psalms. That is, it is a part of the collection consisting of Psalms 113 to 118. They're called Hallel because that's the Hebrew word for praise, and these are hymns of praise. And they're called Egyptian because this whole collection was traditionally sung during the Passover, which of course was instituted at the time of the Exodus. and because Psalm 114 actually recounts the story of the Exodus. Now the Gospels tell us that Jesus and his disciples sang hymns during the night of the Last Supper, which of course was a Passover meal, and so no doubt they were singing this very collection of Psalms that night. We're going to be looking at Psalm 116 this morning, and this particular Hallelujah Psalm, as we began to look at it last week, we observed, first of all, the psalmist identifies his plight before God. He was on the verge of death, and he had a lot of dishonest enemies who were telling all kinds of lies about him. But secondly, we observed his faith in God, which was manifested in a twofold manner. First of all, it was manifested by his endurance. Despite all that he was suffering and dealing with, he maintained his faith, and it's in this context that he makes the classic statement, I believed, and therefore have I spoken, a statement that is twice quoted by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, in his epistle to the Romans, as well as in his second epistle to the Corinthians. Secondly, his faith is manifested by prayer. A simple but desperate prayer to God that God was completely pleased to answer in every way. Physically, God spared his life. Emotionally, God wiped away his tears and his soul returned to a place of rest rather than being in anguish. And spiritually, God guided his footsteps to keep him from falling. So a total and complete answer to that prayer. Now then the question is, now that God has answered his prayer, how did the psalmist respond? What do you do when God has been gracious and answered your prayers? You can't just go on as if nothing ever happened. You have to do something with that. And the psalmist will show us the appropriate response. So that's what I want us to consider this morning as we return our attention to Psalm 116. But before we actually look at the scriptures, would you please join me for a brief prayer? Our Father, we ask your guidance as we consider your word this morning. Give us ears to hear what you have to say to us and help us take to heart the appropriate response to your grace in our lives. This we ask in Christ's name. Amen. There's actually a six-fold response in the part of the psalmist. The first response we observe is that the psalmist would respond by loving God. We get this right at the very beginning of the psalm in verse one. He begins with this in verse one. Notice what he says, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications. You see, because he's heard my voice, because God has answered my prayer, I love him. Now, of course, the psalmist was supposed to love God, but that became much easier when he actually had experienced the love and grace of God in his life. That is, when he came to know God experientially. There is, of course, a place for academic knowledge, but as you often hear me say, God is really big on experiential knowledge. It is those who have experienced the love and grace of God that are drawn to him. A mere head knowledge of facts about God does not have that impact on a person. Rather, it's when you see him in action, working in your life. I think they found that out in the Christian school movement. I think when they started Christian schools, they thought, well, this is great. We're going to put all these kids in the Christian schools, and we're going to teach and rear them right. They'll get this education, and they'll come out and they'll be great servants of God. And it didn't always turn out that way. You had a lot of graduates from the Christian schools that were unsaved and went on to live absolutely godless lives. Why? Well, because the Christian school could give them a lot of facts and data about God. But facts and data about God does not lead people to love God. To love God, you have to know Him experientially. Hold your place here, but look at the New Testament, 1st John chapter 4. Notice what the Apostle John says about this. John, of course, talks a lot about love, right? And our love toward God, but according to John, why do we love God? Look at 1st John chapter 4, verses 9 through 10. In 1st John chapter 4, verses 9 through 10. 1st John 4, verses 9 through 10. The apostle tells us, in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. You jump down to verse 19, he summarizes more briefly in verse 19, we love him because he first loved us. You see, why do we love God? Because we saw God first loving us. We saw God's love in action. We didn't have a mere academic knowledge of God. We saw God actually jumping into action. When you see what God has done for you, And in this regard, what's the very first prayer answered by God in the experience of any Christian? Wasn't it the prayer for salvation? When you called upon the Lord, God heard and answered that prayer, right? Because God doesn't hear the prayers of unsaved people, right? The prayer of the wicked is an abomination to God. The first prayer in your life that God ever really heard and acknowledged and answered would have been that time when you called out to Him, when you called on the name of the Lord and God answered that prayer and He saved you. You were saved and you were changed and you knew you were a different person on the inside. And on that occasion, you experienced the love of God when you saw, wow, And for free, I didn't have to do anything for it, didn't have to work for it, didn't have to earn it. I just called out to God and God loved me enough to save me from an everlasting hell and from my own sin and depravity. And you were drawn to God. And the more you experience that kind of thing in your life, the more you will love him. Recall, what have we seen in Sunday school as we've been studying the book of Hosea? that this was precisely the problem with Hosea's contemporaries. They cheated on God spiritually. They cheated on God because they didn't really love God. They had no love for God. Well, why did the people not love God? Because they didn't know God. The theme of Hosea is to know God is to love God, but they didn't know Him. That's why they were cheating on Him. Oh, they knew about him. They had an academic knowledge of God, but they didn't know him experientially. In fact, look at the book of Hosea. Let me remind you just a few of the statements. There are more statements like this in the book, but let's look at a couple of the statements where we find the problem in Hosea getting right to the heart of the problem. Hosea 4, 1. Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. There's no knowledge of God. They don't know God. That's why they're cheating on Him. Look over at chapter 5, verse 4. Chapter 5 and verse 4 in Hosea. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God, for the spirit of Hortense is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. Why are they cheating on God? Because they don't know him. That's what he's saying. Look at chapter six, verse six, chapter six, verse six. God says, for I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God, more than burnt offerings, I says, I don't want religious rituals and ceremonies. I don't want your stuff. I want you to know me. See, if they but knew God, then they would love him. Now, one day, the Jewish people will know God. And then guess what? They'll love him. Look at chapter two, verse two. And Hosea chapter two, excuse me, verse 20. Chapter two, verse 20. God's speaking of what will happen one day in the future to the Jewish people. He says, I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord. Someday they'll know him. So guess what? They will then be faithful to him. They'll be faithful to him. They won't be cheating on him anymore. Why? Because they'll love him. They'll be drawn to him rather than the stuff and the gods of this world. But that's never going to happen. They'll never be faithful to him until they know him. Well, again, by knowing, we mean, right, personally, experientially, relationally, not knowing facts about him. So turn our attention back to Psalm 116. The psalmist, of course, he already had a saving relationship with God. But the point is, the more we experience our God, The more experience we have with him, the more we are drawn to him and love him. Now this principle then leads to the next aspect of the psalmist response to God, and that is to trust him. And he references this concept several times throughout the psalm. So for example, back in Psalm 116, moving on to verse two, notice what he goes on to say. After speaking of loving the Lord, he will, you know, express his trust in the Lord. He says in verse 2, because he had inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. Because he's heard me, again. So what is he saying? Once again, because I've had this experience with God, Guess what? I'm always gonna call on Him. Well, why is He calling on Him? Well, that's an expression of faith. In other words, my faith, my hope, my confidence is always gonna be in God. I'm not gonna turn to the world, the resources of the world, right? When I need help, when I need guidance, the one I'm turning to is God. My confidence is in Him. I trust Him. And as he says this very early in the psalm, so at the end of the psalm, he'll come back to that. Again, look at the last half of verse 17, last half of verse 17. It says, I will call upon the name of the Lord. And so as with loving the Lord, so with trusting him. The more you know him, the easier it is to trust him. Again, you've heard me often say over the years that we don't tend to trust strangers. We don't trust people we don't know. If you're having a trouble, difficulty in your life with really trusting God, with turning things over to him and leaving it with God, where's the problem? Why are you having a difficult time trusting God with your life? It is only because you don't know God well enough. We don't trust people we don't know. If you knew him better, you'd trust him better. The psalmist has had an experience with God. He has grown, therefore, in his experiential knowledge of God and finds that it is easier to trust God. And then if you look at verses 12 and 13 of the psalm, verses 12 and 13, he says, Here again is his affirmation, I am going to be trusting in the Lord. Now, in verse 12 here, he speaks of all the Lord's benefits toward him. Benefits. When he speaks of benefits, this is a form of the same Hebrew word that he used back in verse 7. Notice the last half of verse 7. He says there, the Lord hath dealt bountifully with me. We talked about that word last week. The word bountifully means totally and completely, meaning he totally and completely answered my prayer. So that's the concept, again, that comes out in verse 12. And he speaks of his benefits. He means just how thoroughly and totally and completely good God is to me in terms of providing for me and answering my prayers. In other words, the salvation that the Lord grants him is total. Total salvation. And thus the salvation for which he trusts the Lord isn't just physical in nature. Already the Lord had delivered him from physical death. Man, I was on death's door. But the Lord answered the prayer, and now I'm walking in the land of the living. So already the Lord has delivered him from physical death, but the psalmist is confident here. He's expressing his confidence that the Lord will yet deliver him from a far greater death, spiritual death, the second death. For the psalmist, his ultimate deliverance and escape from the realm of the dead will come at the resurrection when God will finally and fully deliver him from death. But the point is this, God will save him precisely because his trust and confidence is in God. And his faith is expressed in a twofold manner here in verse 13. Again, as we focus on verse 13. First of all, you'll observe there that in the second part of the verse, he speaks again of calling upon the name of the Lord. It's the third time we've seen him use that expression in this psalm. The beginning of the psalm. calling upon the name of the Lord. At the end of the psalm, I'm calling on the name of the Lord. And now here in the middle of the psalm, I'm calling on the name of the Lord. Now, that expression, call upon the name of the Lord, that is paralleled by the prophet Joel, who says in Joel 2.32 that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And in the context of Joel 2, it's clear that Joel is not speaking about just physical deliverance, but the salvation of the soul. And in turn then, Joel is quoted by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. Remember, what is it that the Apostle Paul tells in Romans 10, 13, quoting the Old Testament? For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And here again, in the context of Romans 10, it is clear that Paul is talking about spiritual salvation, the salvation of one's soul. He's not just talking about a temporal, physical deliverance. Thus it is, salvation comes by calling upon the name of the Lord, and that is precisely what the psalmist does, using that very terminology, a call upon the name of the Lord. Furthermore, his faith is expressed in verse 13, not only by the fact that he calls upon the name of the Lord, but also in the first part of the verse where he speaks of taking the cup of salvation. The cup of salvation. Now that's an unusual expression. How unusual? Well, it's found only here in the entire Old Testament. It's the only time that expression is used in the Old Testament, the cup of salvation. Not only is it unusual, however, it is a highly significant expression. Recall the context of this psalm. This is one of the Egyptian Haleel Psalms sung on the night of Passover. And what happened when Christ celebrated the Passover at His Last Supper? In addition to singing this very psalm that night with his disciples, singing these very words about taking the cup of salvation, he introduced to his disciples the Lord's Supper, the concept of communion. Look at Luke 22. Let's review Luke 22 where Luke records the words of Christ on this occasion. Christ was celebrating and observing this Passover, but now instituting the Lord's Supper. Luke 22, verses 19 and 20. Luke 22, verses 19 and 20. We're told that he took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying, this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. Likewise, also the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. The Lord institutes the Last Supper, introduces two key elements that would play a role in the Lord's Supper. The bread, which represents his broken body that paid the price for our sin, and the cup of wine, which would represent his shed blood, he says, that would ratify the new covenant. And thus, in taking the cup of salvation, the psalmist conveys the means of his salvation, a new covenant wrought by the shed blood of Christ. Now, of course, the psalmist himself probably didn't even comprehend the full significance of his own words when he used that expression, the cup of salvation. But I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit inspired the psalmist to pen those very words. He did so anticipating both the means of our salvation, as well as the means by which we would memorialize our salvation. Through the cup, it would come to pass. And so not only would the Jews sing these very words at Passover, But the early church made this connection between the psalm and the Lord's Supper, and so it became a tradition to sing this psalm whenever they would observe the Lord's Supper. The cup of salvation, the shed blood of Christ that ratifies the new covenant. But we can take this concept even a step further. The concept of the covenant, excuse me, of the cup in the Old Testament points not only to the means of our salvation in terms of Christ's atoning work, the shed blood, but also to the very essence of our salvation, which is a personal relationship with Christ and our union to him. Or in salvation, we are not only forgiven because the penalty has been paid by the shedding of Christ's blood. Beyond that, we are reconciled and united to Christ for the new covenant that He ratified by the shedding of His blood brings us into personal relationship with Him, a binding forever relationship. And in this regard, look back at another psalm, back in the Old Testament, Psalm 16. Psalm 16 is a psalm written by David. In Psalm 16, David does not use the full expression, the cup of salvation, but he does refer to a cup. Psalm 16, verse five. Psalm 16, verse five, David says, the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. I'll maintain us, my lot." The Lord, he says, is two things. First of all, the Lord is the share of his inheritance. That word inheritance means a share, an allotment of something. Commonly, in the Old Testament culture, that would be a share of land, land being passed down in the family that provides stability. And it's an agricultural society owning land. You know, you're not like a nomad, but you've got land. It's yours. You can work until there's stability. And that may be the intended meaning here, my share of land. But in the immediate context of this verse, the psalmist may be referring not necessarily to a share of land. He doesn't say land. He just says share of something. And so he may be referring to a share of bread or food at a meal. That then would complement his further reference to a cup. So the Lord would be my share of bread and my share of the cup. And here then one would be reminded of another psalm by David, Psalm 23, where David in the latter half of that psalm likens his relationship to God as being like a feast that God has spread out before him. He says, God has prepared a table full of food before me, and he says, my cup runneth over. At any rate, at a minimum, Whatever the first thing references, land or bread, there is no doubt that the second thing that David identifies in Psalm 16 is that the Lord is his cup. Notice again the wording here, the Lord is his cup. The cup here is not the atoning work of the Lord. That's what we have in Psalm 116, the cup of salvation, the atoning work of Christ, the shedding of his blood that ratifies a new covenant. But here, it's not the atoning work of the Lord, it is the Lord himself. David desires and values nothing more in this world than his relationship with God. Not the stability represented by land or the prosperity commonly represented by a cup of wine in the Old Testament world. Not bread or wine, no amount of physical food or sustenance, nothing in this world. David says, my entire life is built on one thing and one thing only, my relationship to God. Lord, you are my cup. The very essence of salvation is found in being rightly related to God and enjoying him, indeed, being united to him spiritually. So one is reminded of the words of Jesus in John 6, 54 through 57, when he said, whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. He'll be delivered from death. He says, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him, as the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father. So he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. And so David says, you know what I eat and drink? It's the Lord. The Lord's the portion of my cup. He's my bread. I eat and drink the Lord. That is the very essence of his life. And so it is that in Psalm 16, David would speak of the cup of the Lord himself, while the author of Psalm 116 speaks of the cup of salvation that was provided by the Lord. But his faith is illustrated by the fact that his confidence is in the Lord's atoning work. Well, then, turning our attention back to Psalm 116, as we turn our attention back to the psalm, we find yet a third response of the psalmist, and that is a commitment to walk before him. Look at verse nine. Verse nine of the psalm, he says, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living, to walk before the Lord. That's an expression that pops up several times in the Old Testament, an extremely common expression, but it does pop up. For example, this expression is used to characterize both Abraham and King David. Both of those two men are said to have walked before the Lord. In Genesis 17.1, God appears to Abraham and says, I am almighty God, walk before me. And years later, his grandson Jacob would say, my grandfather Abraham walked before the Lord. Likewise, this is said of David. The Lord appears to Solomon and says, Solomon, you're now the heir of your father's throne. You need to walk in his footsteps. You need to be like him. And here's what your father David did. He walked before me. Like Abraham and like David, the psalmist says, I will walk before the Lord. Well, then that raises the question, what does that mean? What does it mean to walk before the Lord? What did they do? What is it the psalmist will do? Well, there are two possible meanings. One is that this expression conveys a sense of living your life with a sense of accountability to God. That is, you live your life with the conscious recognition that God is always watching. He sees everything you say, everything you think, everything you do, And so, right, your life is transparent. It's an open book before God. And so just that recognition that, hey, you know, God is watching and everything I do has to be pleasing to Him because He knows He's watching and He's going to hold me accountable. So it could be that sense of accountability. That certainly is a biblical concept. Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes 12, 14, that God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing. Whether it be good or whether it be evil, everything you do good and bad, God is watching and he's going to bring it into consideration come judgment day. So the walk before the Lord is the walk of that conscious recognition, never lose sight of that. Now there is another suggestion, some Bible scholars suggest that it more conveys the notion of representation, that is, it is the obligation to live your life as God's representative on earth before the world, to be a good testimony for the Lord, who will share the truth of God's word. Some scholars believe that's what God was telling Abraham to do. Abraham, you know, essentially, he's like, I'm making this great covenant with you. You're so privileged to be the chosen one. I'm going to make a great nation out of you. And through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed. The Savior is going to come through you. The seed of the woman comes from you, Abraham. What a great privilege. But with privilege comes responsibility. With that privilege comes the responsibility to represent God before the world. If you're the one that God is working through, You need to be a testimony to the rest of the world about who God is and what he's doing and what this plan of salvation is that he's working out through you. And so God strategically calls Abraham to live in the land of Canaan, which is situated smack dab between the great empire of Egypt to the south and to the north and northeast, ancient Mesopotamia. the two power centers of the ancient world, and all the trade that would go back and forth between Egypt and Mesopotamia goes through two major trade routes that go right through the land of Israel. The whole world is marching right through the land of Israel, and what will they see? A people who are different, who are godly, who are holy? Or would they see something different? Something just like the rest of the world? but an obligation to be holy and to be a testimony. So some certainly take it that way. And again, David, as the recipient of the new covenant, excuse me, of the Davidic covenant, God's chosen King through whom ultimately King Jesus would come. David had that obligation again to be different from all the other kings of the world. as he is representing King Jesus, the King of the world, he needed to walk before the Lord in that representative capacity. Well, that certainly is a concept that is biblical as well. What is it Paul tells in 2 Corinthians 5.20? Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you through us. We pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. We are his representatives. We are his ambassadors. We are the mouthpiece of God in this world. So scholars suggest two possible meanings. I tend to lean toward the first one, that idea of accountability, that you live your life with a conscious recognition that God is watching everything that you're doing. Whichever meaning we go with, both represent biblical concepts. So the psalmist commits to walking before God. We move on to the fourth response of the psalmist in the psalm, and that is to serve him. We see this in verses 15 through 16. Verses 15 through 16. The psalmist says, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. Now in verse six, he begins with the statement that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints there in verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Now remember, he is a saint and he was really close to death. He was in the grip of death. What that, he says, is a precious thing to the Lord. Now, the Hebrew word translated here as precious conveys the idea that this is something the Lord does not take lightly. Ah, you know, everybody's got to die sometime or other. No big deal. No. God takes no pleasure in death. He is a God of life, not death. Death is neither natural or normal. It is rather a consequence of sin and the curse. And so the Bible characterizes death as the enemy, even for a Christian. It is an enemy that Christ has conquered and will someday do away with, but for now, because of the curse, yes, we all must die sometime or other, but it is always a tragedy. We can rejoice when we lose a beloved brother or sister and the knowledge that they are with the Lord. But you cannot deny that it is not something natural or good that happened. Death is always a loss. It is always disintegration of our humanity. It is not something the Lord takes lightly. or just puts a happy face on. So the point is that God was not eager to shorten the psalmist's life and let him die. To the contrary, God was pleased to answer his prayer and preserve his life on this earth, to give him more time on this earth before he has to face the cruel reality of disintegration as he literally would come apart soul from body and body decay in a grave. And thus it is in the latter half of verse 16, then he says, thou hast loosed my bonds. What bonds are these? Well, they were the bonds of death. He's alluding back to a statement back in verse three. Remember what he said in verse three, look at verse three, he says, the sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell got hold upon me. And we talked about this verse last week, and we talked about that word sorrows, the sorrows of death, that's literally, that word translated sorrows, literally the word rope. It's like death had me in his grips. It had me tied up like a rope, wrapped around me. I was bound by death. And so then in verse 16, when he says, I was loosed my bonds, he means you broke the bonds of death, that rope. You broke me free and delivered me from death. I've been delivered from the clutches of death. And so this passage then forms the background for yet another key New Testament quotation. Yet again, we will find this psalm playing a role in the New Testament. I want you to place here and look at Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, verses 23 through 24. Acts two, this time we'll find it's not the Apostle Paul, but the Apostle Peter referring to this classic psalm that they would sing every Passover. Acts 2 verses 23-24 not long after the resurrection of Christ. This is very early, right? Not long after Christ has ascended back to heaven in the early church, as we're only in Acts 2. But verses 23 through 24, Peter is speaking about Jesus, and he says, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." You note his reference here to the pains of death from which he was loosed or delivered, the pains of death. And here, Peter's actually quoting the Greek translation of Psalm 116.3. When it was translated into Greek and the subdugent, that expression, the sorrows of death is how King James says it. And the Greek, it referred to the pains of death. He is quoting Psalm 116. The psalmist was in the clutches of death. God delivered him. But he says, you know what? Jesus was too. He knew those bonds. Now in the case of the psalmist, he had been delivered in a preventative manner, right? God kept him from dying. In the case of Christ, he actually died and was delivered out of the realm of the dead. So Christ died, went into the realm of the dead, but then escaped the clutches of death by coming out from the realm of the dead. So his deliverance involved overcoming death. not simply preventing him from dying, but overcoming death and escaping out of its clutches fully from the realm of the dead. For as Peter explains, it was not possible that death could keep him in the realm of the dead. And it is because Christ overcame death that the psalmist will ultimately overcome death at the resurrection. And so God loosed his bonds And ultimately at the resurrection, those bonds will be fully loosed for him. But at any rate, then turning our attention back to Psalm 116, then what is the result of his deliverance from death? Well, in the first part of verse 16, he says he would be God's servant. Lord, I'm your servant. I will serve you with my life. Once death had been his master, death had the power over him, but now God is his master and he will gladly serve him. And so it is, if God has been good to you, if he has answered prayer in your life, beginning with the first prayer when you asked him to save you, which prayer obviously he answered, then serve him. you are to be his slave. We saw a few weeks ago on Sunday night, and we're working our way through the book of Romans, Romans chapter six, what happens when you get saved? According to Romans chapter six, you have a new master. You are now the slave of God. So how does Paul always introduce himself at the beginning of all his epistles? Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an apostle, but not only an apostle, a slave of Jesus Christ. Paul was a slave, always reminding people, I'm the slave of God. So it is, your life belongs to God. If God has been good to you, serve him. Moving on, response number five in the psalm, response to thank him. to thank him. And the psalmist would express his gratitude toward the Lord in a two-fold manner. First of all, in a tangible way. Of course, it's certainly appropriate to praise and thank the Lord verbally through songs of praise or testimony that we give of his goodness to us. Indeed, this psalm itself is one way in which the psalmist is praising the Lord and expressing his gratitude for an answer to prayer, right? This is his testimony of what God has done. But beyond that, the verbal praise and thanksgiving, there are times when we might wish to convey our gratitude in a more tangible way. For words can, at times, not always, but at times, words can be cheap. and a poor substitute for a more costly and tangible expression of our gratitude. Is this not so? And so in verse 17, notice what the psalmist says in verse 17, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. He will actually go to the temple and offer a sacrifice. A lamb, a goat, we don't know, maybe something even more expensive. Like a bull? Those are really expensive. Some of the sacrifices under the Mosaic Law were freewill offerings simply offered at the discretion of the worshiper. They weren't required. They were just there as a vehicle for expressing gratitude. And that's what the psalmist is talking about. This isn't a sacrifice I have to offer. The law doesn't require me to do it. but it's a vehicle available to me and I'm going to do that. I want to express my gratitude to the Lord in a way that actually costs me something. So sometimes when God has answered a prayer, maybe we can give something a little extra to the Lord above and beyond what we might normally do. Of course, again, we can give more than financial material resources. We could give a little extra time, for example, or in other ways. But when God has been good to you and answered a prayer, you do well to think, is there a way that I can express my gratitude toward God in a tangible way above and beyond the normal day-to-day ways that we already do so? And secondly, secondly, he would thank the Lord in a very public way. Notice verse 14 again. Verse 14, he says, I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. in the presence of all his people. Likewise, look down at verses 18 and 19. Verses 18 and 19. 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. Going right to the temple, right here in a very public place, in Jerusalem, the capital city, in the midst of all the people, so in a very public way. This is the concept of a testimony, right? Certainly it's appropriate just to have a personal conversation with the Lord where you thank Him directly, right? But we can also thank and praise the Lord in the presence of others so that they too might know what God has graciously done in our lives and how He's answered prayer. And so when God has done something good in your life, let others know, speak up. This is why we offer testimonies at church, right? Why on Wednesday nights, we take the opportunity to share praises and testimonies. We follow the biblical pattern. When God has done something good, say so publicly. And this then bleeds over into the sixth and final way of responding, and that is to make and keep a vow unto God. And you see this in both the first part of verse 14 and the first part of verse 18 there. He speaks of the fact that I will pay my vows unto the Lord. I'll pay my vows. In this case, apparently the vow was to go to the temple and offer sacrifice of thanksgiving. But those two concepts of that sacrifice and a vow are not always identical. In other words, sometimes a Thanksgiving offering would be retrospective. That is, after the fact, one is thankful and decides to acknowledge the Lord and express his gratitude with some kind of offering. So after the fact, he says, you know, the Lord was really good to me. I just want to say thank you. And so he'd go to the temple and he'd offer a sacrifice. Whereas a vow, on the other hand, is not retrospective. The vow is a commitment you make at the time, in the moment of duress, or at the time you offered a prayer to God. It's the kind of thing, God, if you'll answer this prayer and do this for me, then I promise whatever. And of course, making a vow is not a way of bribing God. It's not about bribing God. We know and understand that God needs nothing from us. What can I give God? You can't bribe God. There's nothing He needs or desires from us. Rather, it's a way of expressing our intent to be consciously grateful. It's a promise not to forget what He's done for us. God doesn't want our stuff or whatever, but He'd like our gratitude. A vow is that commitment. God, if you'll answer this prayer, I promise I won't forget. I'll show my gratitude in some kind of tangible or more concrete way. So a vow is more for our benefit than for God's. It's our way of locking ourselves in and committing up front to be grateful for answered prayer. And again, this vow would not be expressed merely verbally, but in a more costly way, a sacrificial way. Now, is that still a valid approach for believers today, to make vows to God at times of duress? And when we pray to the Lord, I see no reason why not. I see nothing in the New Testament biblical data addressed to the church that says we should not be making vows. It's a valid concept. You pray to the Lord and say, God, if you'll do this for me, I'd like to, you know, I promise I won't forget. But a note of caution here. God takes our vows seriously and so must we. Let me remind you what Solomon says about this in Ecclesiastes chapter five. Ecclesiastes chapter five, verses four through five. Ecclesiastes chapter five, verses four through five. When thou vowest to vow unto God, defer not to pay it. For he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and not pay. So, I think it's a legitimate thing to do, but it's something that God doesn't take lightly and we shouldn't either. You say, God, I won't forget. Then don't forget. Keep your word. God is loyal to his commitments and his promises, and he demands that his people be loyal to their commitments too. And so, in conclusion this morning, we have seen that the psalmist's escape from death anticipates his future escape from an even greater death, the second death. And this escape, in turn, is premised upon Christ's own escape from death by means of his resurrection. For he would not only escape the clutches of death, but he would overcome that enemy. And we share in his victory with the assurance of our own resurrection someday. And furthermore, the psalmist's escape from death is premised upon the atoning work of Christ, the shedding of His own blood by which He ratified a new covenant, and which atoning work we recall every time we drink from the cup at the Lord's Supper, the cup of salvation. It's little wonder then that this psalm plays a prominent role in the Passover ceremony and subsequently for the church a significant role in the communion ceremony. No wonder then that the psalm figures prominently in the New Testament being cited and quoted a number of times. It is rich in theology. But for those of us who know this salvation provided by Christ, the psalmist reminds us that God's gracious work in our lives demands a response on our part, a six-fold response, to love Him, to trust Him, to walk before Him, to serve Him, to thank Him, and to keep our vows to Him. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the opportunity we've had to look at your word this morning. Help us take these words to heart. And we ask this in Christ's name. Amen.