Psalms 116:16 “I Am Thy Servant”
Psalms 116:16
says, “O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy
servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.”
The word that
here is translated servant can mean bondman or slave. What is a servant? A servant
is a person who does what someone else tells them to do. In other words they do
not do their own will but another’s will. But it is more than just that. It is
also the idea that they are obligated to do what they are told to do. A slave
does not have the freedom or the power to refuse to do their master’s will.
The reason as
a servant of Christ I am obligated to do what I am told is because I am bought
with a price, the blood of Jesus Christ. Or another way of saying it is as it
is said in Psalms 116:16, thou hast loosed my bonds.
Jesus has set
me free from the chains of sin. Because He has set me free I am His servant. If
you are a slave and you’re standing in chains on the slave market up for sale
and some one comes and buys you then you become that
person’s slave and that’s what happens when Jesus comes and buys you with His
blood.
I Corinthians
Everyone is a slave and a servant to something. You can be a slave to
sin or you can be slave to righteousness. In righteousness there is freedom. In
sin there is no freedom.
Psalms 116:17-19, “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. Praise ye the LORD.”
These verses tell us what a servant of Jesus should do. It is very
simple. A servant of Jesus should be thankful. You can serve God and accomplish
great things for God simply by being thankful. Not many people in this world
are thankful to God for the things that He does and the things that He gives
them, not many. What a great and a shinning testimony
it is to be thankful to the Lord.
There is always something to be thankful to the Lord for. Even if you
lose everything in life: your job, your family, your health, your reputation,
your freedom; you can always be thankful for your salvation, for the forgiveness
of sins that is found in Jesus Christ.
No matter what happens to you in life, no matter what you suffer and
no matter what you lose, if you are God’s child then you are God’s servant and
you will always have the opportunity to serve God and accomplish something for
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh how much there is too be thankful to Jesus for.
This is the true message on the power of positive thinking. The most
positive thinking you can have is to go through life and to above all things be
thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you can do this then you will
always have a positive attitude in life no matter what. And you will always be
successful in life so long as you maintain your faith in God. If you hold fast
your faith then you are not a failure but you are victorious.
Psalms 117:1-2 says, “O praise
the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness
is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth
for ever. Praise ye the
LORD.”
Psalm 117 is the shortest Psalms in the book of Psalms. It is only two
verses. And it continues on the same topic as the last verses of Psalms 116:
being thankful. You see being thankful and praising the Lord go together. If
you are thankful to God then it will result in you praising Him. We should
praise God because God is good and all that God does is good. To praise simply
means to say good things about someone.
Human beings get things so messed up. Often times
human beings say good things about bad people and bad things about God. Men
tend to praise other men so much. They praise those that are famous. They
praise those that are powerful. They praise those that are rich. But they don’t
praise Jesus. Who is more famous than Jesus Christ? Who is more powerful than
Jesus Christ? Who is wealthier than Jesus Christ? Yet the world doesn’t praise
Him.
There are many reasons to praise God. But Psalms 117 gives 2 specific
reasons to praise God: for His merciful kindness and because His truth endureth forever.
It is very interesting to see the words mercy and kindness put
together in this fashion. It really puts a great emphasis not just on how
merciful God is but in regards to how God treats us very tenderly in the way that He deals with
us as we walk through this life. After all God is Holy and all powerful. And we
go through life pridefully; committing sin after sin
after sin because that is what men do is sin. And God goes along patiently
trying to guide us and teach us and bring us to Jesus and to repentance of our
sins. How patient God is, how mercifully tender He is in dealing with us. This
is a reason to praise God.
The other reason given in Psalms 117 to praise God is because His
truth endureth forever. It is a great thing that the
truth endureth forever. This means the truth will outlast
the lies. This is the reason why in the end the truth always comes out, truth always wins out in the end because truth endures
forever. Lies do not endure forever, truth does.
How often men lie about things including history. Yes, you will find many, many lies in the history books of the world.
But the lies will not endure forever the truth will conquer them.
Psalms 118:1 says, “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because
his mercy endureth for ever.”
Psalms 118 is an interesting Psalms. It contains several verses which
are quoted in the New Testament. It also has a particular theme which is
emphasized in the words: his mercy endureth
for ever.
The word mercy that is used here is a very interesting word. It is the
word that is sometimes translated lovingkindness. You see there is a great
tenderness to the heart of God and to what motivates God. In the previous
verses of Psalms we were told that God’s truth endures forever. Here we are
told God’s mercy endures forever.
The statement, his mercy endureth
for ever, in a way seems like a very vague
statement. But If we understand the New Testament then
we can understand the Old Testament. The best and greatest example of God’s
mercy is Jesus Christ having taking our place when He hung on the cross and
became sin for us. It was then at that moment in time that the judgment and
wrath of God for sins, for our sins, was poured out and satisfied. You see
mercy is means not getting what we deserve. We deserved the judgment of God and
instead Jesus bore it upon his shoulders in the form of a cross.
So to say his mercy endureth
for ever is actually a way of teaching the eternal security of the
believer. Once saved always saved. Once you enter into
the grace of God by trusting in the name of Jesus Christ by believing and
accepting what it is Jesus has done for you then you enter into God’s mercy.
And the Bible says his mercy endureth
for ever.
What a great and a comforting statement. This means as a child of God
there will never be a time when you are without the mercy of God. God’s mercy
on you will not run out. His mercy flows as freely as Jesus’ blood.
Psalms 118:2-4, “Let
Why is it necessary to repeat and reemphasize this truth: His mercy endureth forever? The answer is simple. How easily we as
human beings can doubt God. All it takes is one failure and we may start to
think that God won’t forgive us. All it takes is a little time out of God’s
Word and we may start to forget how merciful God is.
Christians who do not understand eternal security do not understand
the mercy of God. There are many many Christians who
are taught false teachings, the teaching that you can lose your salvation. No
matter how you explain it the teaching that a person can lose their salvation
is teaching salvation by works and not by grace. All you have to do is reach
Psalms 118 to understand eternal security: His mercy endureth for ever.
Psalms 118:5-9 says, “I called
upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large
place. The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my
desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the LORD
than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to
put confidence in princes.”
These verses basically say trust in God not man. Men
way to often make the mistake of uplifting and trusting in other men.
One of the greatest examples of this in the country that we live in has to do
with the president. People way too often lay their
hopes and dreams and expectations about the future on who the president is.
It is better
to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. We can see how our society is being set up for the worship of the
antichrist when we look at the liberal news media and how they treat their
candidates for president. They practically worship the person. If you trust in
God then you won’t fear. The worship of man always brings fear.
Psalms 118:10-16 says, “All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I
destroy them. They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the
name of the LORD I will destroy them. They compassed me about like bees; they
are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy
them. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me.
The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. The voice
of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the
right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. The right hand
of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth
valiantly.”
If the Lord be for us who can be
against us. These verses basically teach us that
we can stand alone against all the world if we have
Jesus on our side. All nations can come against us and they very well may but
if God be fore us who can be against us?
Psalms 118:17-21 says, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. The
LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death. Open to
me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise
the LORD: This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. I will
praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.”
There are two kinds of death, physical death and spiritual death.
Physical death only lasts for a moment then it is over. Spiritual death lasts
for all eternity. When these verses say I shall not die the teaching here is
not that a person is not going to die physically but that they are not going to
die spiritually.
Matthew 16:26, “For what is a man profited,
if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or
what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
I shall not die, but live…for Thou hast heard me, and art
become my salvation. The most important thing in the world is to
acquire eternal life. It seems very strange that people go through life knowing
there going to die one day whether it be from old age
or something else and yet they give no regard to their eternal destiny. How
foolish men are.
Why would anyone choose to burn forever in the lake of fire? But that
is what they choose when they reject Jesus. Oh how often they say the way of
the Lord is not equal. How often they accuse God of being unjust for getting
angry at sin and for punishing sin. They do this because they think in so doing
that their accusations will somehow justify them. The only way to be justified,
the only way to have eternal life is to repent of your sins to Jesus Christ.
Psalms 118:22-23 says, “The stone which
the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the
LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.”
These verses are a reference to Jesus Christ. They are quoted in the
New Testament. Jesus quoted them when he said in Matthew 21:43-45, “Therefore say I unto you, The
A corner stone is the first stone placed in a building. The corner
stone determines the position of all other stones. In other words the corner
stone is the first and most important part of a building. This is why Jesus is
called the corner stone. Jesus first and most important.
God had a plan for
Ephesians 2:18-22 says, “For through him we
both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the
saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth
unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
If you understand that Jesus is the cornerstone then you understand
how true Christianity is supposed to work. There is no Christianity without
Jesus. Jesus deserves all the credit and all glory. Jesus is the one who runs
and rules the church not the pope not some famous preacher with the biggest
church but Jesus. The mistake that many involved in organized Christianity make
is they forget that Jesus is the corner stone or they do not really believe it.
They are followers of Men. They want you to follow their organization and their
school they want you to be loyal too them. But Jesus
is the chief corner stone not any man, not any Christian school, not any
particular church building, Jesus.
This is the very reason there are so many denominations in
Christianity because people are followers of men and not of Jesus. Really a
denomination is a division. Over the centuries Christianity has become divided
up into many denominations. All of them have their problems none of them have
perfect doctrine. They all have their traditions of men that they follow. What
a great failure of organized Christianity over the centuries. If only
Christians would learn and understand and remember that Jesus is the
cornerstone.
Jesus should be the cornerstone of your life. He wants to take and to
build you up into a spiritual building of righteousness and great works in the
Lord. If you have never trusted in Jesus then you can do so today. Today is the
day of salvation. Turn from your sins to Jesus today and find forgiveness and
eternal life.
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Copyright; 2017 by Bruce
Creech
All Rights Reserved