Studies in Psalms – Isa 116:7-12 “If Thou Wilt Enter into Life, Keep the Commandments”, Part 2

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Psa 116:7-12 – “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments”, Part 2

Psa 116:7  Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
Psa 116:8  For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
Psa 116:9  I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
Psa 116:10  I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:
Psa 116:11  I said in my haste, All men are liars.
Psa 116:12  What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

In this following part of our Psalm 116 study we will look at what makes it possible for us to live the words “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” and how returning “unto thy rest, Oh my soul” of vs:7 and “the death of the saints” of vs:15 are similar thoughts connected to the bountiful way in which the Lord deals with us so that we can confidently say such confirming words as the ones I’ve listed below from this Psalm.

I will walk before the LORD
I believed, therefore have I spoken
I will take the cup of salvation
I will pay my vows unto the LORD
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving

In Babylon we were taught that the “If” part of “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” is the biggest two letter word in the bible, meaning that you are the one who has control over that keeping or non-keeping of God’s commandment that enables you to “enter into life”.

Of course nothing could be further from the truth, and understandably, flesh naturally believes that we have to do something in order to accomplish the twice mentioned thought “I will pay my vows unto the LORD” of vs: 14 and 18. That is what the man of perdition announces in our heavens all day long and why he must be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our lives so we can enter into true abundant life through Christ who will purge us of those things that can prevent us from becoming “a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use”.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

God’s word has been written to witness against the notion that mankind has a free will, and yet part of the strong delusion with which we live from our first breath until our last is that we are the ones who are sustaining our own physical existence, when in fact all our days are numbered and written in His book and are fulfilling His counsel. Every life is before God and consists by his power (Psa 139:16). The physical breath and the spiritual life that we receive are both gifts from God that without which we would not be able to enter into the natural first or into the spiritual life that proceeds the natural (1Co 15:46). Knowing that Christ understood these principles and said “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” coupled with the thought that we are to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” just as Christ did (Joh 5:17, Php 2:12-13, Heb 5:7) reassures us because we are like Christ in that regard learning obedience by the things we suffer and being given to believe which is what it takes to do the work of God (Joh 6:28-29). When we believe it is Christ who is giving us that faith and ability to carry out our Father’s will “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure”, we are able to then “enter into life” and “keep the commandments” (1Jn 4:17). Knowing therefore and being convinced that you are the temple of God and that God has begun a good work of faith in you which He is going to finish through Christ (Php 1:6) is the gift that God gives us so that we can “enter into life, [and] keep the commandments”. The “if thou wilt” part of “if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” is declared to remind us that it is God alone who can give the increase and the desire to grow and build the house of God, as we are consumed for the zeal of His house, His workmanship which you are (Eph 2:10) through Christ who is doing this zealous work through a peculiar people who are zealous of good works.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Heb 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3 And this will we do, if God permit.

Joh 2:17  And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
1Pe 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

The physical confidence which God gives men in their flesh is what propels us forward in a way that seems right to us but leads to death, and the only way to stop being led to spiritual death is to die to self (1Pe 2:11), or to be given the power through God’s holy spirit to “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” of Romans 6:11-12 who is the one in whom we put all our confidence. That dying process to sin is what makes it possible for us to “enter into life” and “keep the commandments”. Adam does not see the need to change his direction in this life until God drags him to Christ (Joh 6:44), and that was true of John the Baptist as much as it is of all flesh. Our carnal minds marginalize this point that there is none good and look for the good in humanity and equate that good with God’s goodness which transcends our human goodness like light does to darkness. Peter’s impassioned plea “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” can only be adhered to by the grace and faith that God grants His children so that they can fulfill His will “but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” in their lives overcoming all that is in the world within them day by day as we die daily and live to the glory of God in these weak and marred vessels of clay that are being made anew by God through Christ.

Rom 5:6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

We are witnessing first hand in our own lives how “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” It is God who searches our hearts and knows the plans and purpose which He has for us. He is the one who has made and is accomplishing those plans as God’s spirit “maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God“. All of this is telling us that the power given to us via the holy spirit is what makes it possible for us to fulfill this verse “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” and why it is written “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” of Zechariah 4:6.

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Psa 116:7  Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
Psa 116:8  For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

When our souls “return unto thy rest” it will be because the Lord is dealing “bountifully” with us in regard to giving us the power to die to self and enter into the spiritual rest into which we are called to labour. Our souls are delivered from the grave or death when we are no longer a slave to sin, even though we walk among the dead who bury the dead. God hears the “prayers and supplications [we make] with strong crying” offering them up to Him in the days of our flesh as Christ did so that we can have dominion over dead works within us that would manifest and keep us in bondage accept for the mercy, deliverance and dominion over sin that God gives us through Christ.

Heb 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Joh 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

To have our souls delivered “from death” is to no longer walk in the way that seems right to our own flesh as we learn to mortify the deeds of our flesh by “the word of God [that] is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

It is by the grace and faith of Christ (Eph 2:8) alone that anyone of us can be delivered from those who Christ said are to be burying their own dead, and this point is typified by the rebellion of Korah.  When God delivers “mine eyes from tears” and “my feet from falling” it is for the express purpose of bringing us into this bountiful relationship of life in Christ that can only happen by Christ’s life within us (Col 1:27) giving us power to keep God’s commandments “if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments“.

Mat 8:22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Num 26:10  And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.

Psa 116:9  I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

In order to “walk before the LORD in the land of the living” we must be spiritually circumcised, and that circumcision of our flesh is symbolic of the new man in Christ who can now “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:”

In Genesis 17:1 Abraham is told “walk before me, and be thou perfect” at the age of 99, to demonstrate to us that in order to “walk before the LORD in the land of the living” we must be judged and the 99 is a witness to that truth in Genesis 17:1. Abraham is a type of Christ whose life was also judged in the flesh, and Christ’s body [the church 1Pe 4:17, 1Jn 4:17] is later mentioned and typified as “all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him” reminding us that we fill up together what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake, the church, as we are judged and learn obedience by the things that we suffer.

Gen 17:1  And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Gen 17:27  And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

1Co 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

Psa 116:10  I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

It was in the fifth month “unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month” (Jer 1:1-5) that this commission came to Jeremiah from God. Jeremiah, who is a type of the elect, was being encouraged of the Lord and given the proper perspective of who he was and more importantly what God could do through him. This prophecy was for our sakes today (Jer 1:6-10, 1Pe 1:12).

God’s elect are judged first so the “fifth month” and “Jerusalem” spoken of in Jeremiah 1:3 remind us that before we can be a proper witness to the nations, we must be experiencing God’s grace upon the nations within our own heavens, and Jerusalem or Judah represents God’s people who are made free through God’s spirit which teaches us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all”.

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

These verses in Jeremiah 1:1-19 tie in very well with the thought “I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:” and represent the power which God has given to us so we can stand against the many “false Christs, and false prophets, and shall [that] shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mat 10:21, Mat 24:24). Jeremiah was greatly afflicted because he “believed“, and that belief could not be contained within him. He had to speak “therefore have I spoken” and was “greatly afflicted” because of what he had come to believe.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

Jer 20:9  Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

These type-and-shadow words of the prophet of God “I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted” are witnessed in this verse in the book of Philippians – “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake“.

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Psa 116:11  I said in my haste, All men are liars.

Having seen his countrymen go into captivity, Jeremiah could have become bitter if God had allowed that spirit to take hold, and when we come to realize that the love of many is waxing cold (Mat 24:12) among us as “brother shall deliver up the brother to death” (Mat 10:21), we need to pray for each other to look diligently within ourselves that no root of bitterness is forming for those things which God has ordained in His plan of salvation. The grace of God will not fail us if we look to Christ for the answers as to why things happen the way that they do, and He can comfort and help us to overcome the wickedness of this age that can easily have us saying things “in my haste” about others, including the thought that “All men are liars“. There are many liars in the world (2Ti 3:1-14), and scripture is not written in vain “let God be true, but every man a liar”, and this verse is primarily speaking about what is true within the flesh of all men which has been naturally against the spirit of God throughout the ages (Gal 5:17). God’s elect are therefore encouraged to know that when God’s judgments are in our earth, we will learn righteousness (Isa 26:9) and see the tremendous blessing in how this verse in Romans concludes, “That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.”

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Rom 3:4  God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Psa 116:12  What shall I render unto the LORD forall his benefits toward me?

It is only when we are judged of the LORD that we can “renderH7725 unto the LORD” and “all his benefits toward me” represent the bringing forth of much fruit which can happen in the lives of those who are blessed to be judged today as we present ourselves a living sacrifice, rendering our lives to God so that His judgments can be in our earth, and we can learn righteousness.

Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Joh 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Joh 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Php 3:3  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

If we are to enter in life, or render our life a living sacrifice, it will be evidenced by God giving us the power of His holy spirit which causes us to “enter into life” and “keep the commandments”.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the last seven verses of our study, where the focus of the Psalm is on what it means to dedicate our lives unto the LORD.

Psa 116:13  I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.
Psa 116:14  I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.
Psa 116:15  Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Psa 116:16  O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
Psa 116:17  I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.
Psa 116:18  I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,
Psa 116:19  In the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

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