Psa 116:1-16 “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” – Part 1

Psa 116:1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. 
Psa 116:2  Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. 
Psa 116:3  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. 
Psa 116:4  Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
Psa 116:5  Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. 
Psa 116:6  The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. 

If we are as Christ is in this life, we will experience the same trials as our Lord (1Jn 4:17-18), the same rejection, the same being “brought low”, and we will be a stumbling block unto the physical Jews, and our soundness of mind that is a gift of God (2Ti 1:7) will not appear as that unto the intellectual Greek in man, but rather as foolishness.

1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 
1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 
1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 

The solution for overcoming the rejection we are promised from all men as Christ was rejected…  

The mind of the flesh:

Mar 13:13  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 
Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 

…is to enter into His life, and His mindset which is described in these verses below.

The mind of Christ:

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Mat 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 
Mat 18:5  And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 

Mat 18:10  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. 

In this Psalm we will look at the process through which God puts his children in order to achieve this mind of Christ which we are blessed to have and grow in by entering into life through the trials He brings our way which burn that very same pride and vanity and hatred out of us that condemned Christ to the cross and that can cause us to not “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones”.

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: [Mat 24:13]

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 
Act 2:37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit. 
Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 

What shall we do?

If we are to enter into life, we must keep the commandments of God as stated by Christ who can cause us to be matured throughout this life unto the symbolic third day.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. [increase from God mentioned twice as a witness that the increase that God gives is through Christ “but by me”]

Rom_8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 

It is only through Christ to whom God must drag us that we can endure all things (Php 4:13) and find ourselves not committing spiritual murder (Mat 5:21-26) or spiritual adultery (Mat 5:27-32) or be found spiritually stealing from God by not giving our entire life to him (Mal 3:9-12, 1Co 10:11, Rom 12:1). We can only overcome through Christ who is the true witness whose spirit abides in us giving us the power to be more than conquerors through Him as we (Rom 8:8-9, Zec 4:6) “keep the commandments” (Col 1:27, Rev 11:3).

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 

In the next verse of Matthew 19 we see everything that God gives us power to do through Christ is given to us so that we can honour our spiritual Father and the church, Christ’s body, that is typified as our spiritual mother.

Mat 19:19  Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [as well keeping God’s commandments is what is required to be loving our neighbor as ourselves]
Mat 19:20  The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 

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: [this is the answer to the young man’s question “what lack I yet?“]

In order to be true overcomers in this life who keep God’s commandments, it will take a miracle of confession from our heart, as the riches of God’s goodness, the forbearance and long-suffering ways of God work within our hearts and minds to give us victory over the powers and principalities with which we wrestle through the night, (Rom 2:4, Eph 6:12, Eph 6:16). Those powers oppose Christ by putting our sin off on someone else which is what flesh naturally does.

“e.g. (the church “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree (representing the law for the lawless  – 1Ti 1:9, Rom 7:13), and I did eat” (Gen 3:12-13), and this is the role of Babylon where God’s people “come out of her my people” (Rev 18:4) through confessing that there is no life within the quarters of Babylon the Great (within and without) as these verses state (Isa 3:1, Isa 4:1, Luk 15:17).”

Therefore entering into life by definition is not by identifying sin through the law for the lawless of (1Ti 1:9) or by saying to Christ “All these things have I kept from my youth up” of Matthew 19:20, but by being given power through Christ to live by the spirit of those laws through the gift of God’s holy spirit which quickens us and gives us the faith to be able to confess our faults and overcome in this life typified by the disciples tarrying in Jerusalem to receive the holy spirit just as we are raised together (Eph 2:6) in heavenly places together in Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Gal 4:26) where we experience “power from on high”.

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 

Luk 24:49  And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 

God’s children have power or life through Christ “from on high” to keep God’s commandments that show us that we are “exceeding sinful” (Rom 7:13), and by His grace and faith He takes away our self-righteous spirit that says we are “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” blessing us to be His branch in this earth that understand that our spiritual sight comes from God as a free gift, and that there is none good, no not one.

Isa 4:2  In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. 

Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. 

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 

Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 

Luk 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. 

It is through “my people” where the manifest knowledge of God is made known through the church that we witness to the world that we overcome through Christ as our new head of our new body, which has become one bread and one body.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 
Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. [we become one flesh because we eat his body and drink his blood – Joh 6:54-57]

Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 
Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 
Joh 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 
Joh 6:57  As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 

1Co 12:20  But now are they many members, yet but one body.

Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

1Co 10:17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Becoming ‘one’ cannot happen without the manifest knowledge of God being given to each of us through the church, and it is through keeping His commandments, expressed through that knowledge given through the church, that we can grow and overcome (2Pe 3:18, Joh 6:27) and enter into life.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 

God has promised us in if we will keep the commandments we will enter into life, and in this study we will see that because God loved us first, we could then in turn say that “I love the LORD” as we learn of his faithfulness to hear “my voice and my supplications” and to incline “his ear unto me“, only because He has set his love on the church, on His kind of first fruits first who have been promised that we will overcome in this life. We are no longer “exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?” as the unconverted disciples were. Because of God’s love being shed abroad in our hope-filled hearts we now believe in regard to entering into the kingdom of God “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Mat 19:26).

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us. 

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 

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

1Jn 5:1  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 
1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 
1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Psa 116:1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. 

We can have great joy and confidence in our hearts knowing that our prayers are being heard and that God is able to answer those prayers and “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us”.

Mat 6:8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 

Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It is “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” that “he hath heard my voice and my supplications“, and as stated earlier it is because he first loved us that we can now say, “I love the LORD.”

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us. 

Psa 116:2  Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. 

A concert pianist inclines their ear to the gift of music given to them, and it can be astonishingly beautiful to hear a skilled orchestra with its many members perform at such high levels, not missing a single note. This physical analogy of an orchestra reminds us of Christ’s body, the church, who are blessed to be directed by Him whose spirit within us bears witness that he “hath inclined his ear unto me [us]” so we can be a living sacrifice through Him and know assuredly, as the Psalmist declared, “therefore will I [we] call upon him as long as I live.” “As long as I live“, as long as Christ is truly abiding in me and I am abiding in him by His power I will have entered into life knowing that “he hath inclined his ear unto me” as he is the treasure in this earthen vessel that makes this relationship possible.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 

Our role as being first or chiefest^G4413 in advance of all the rest of God’s creation is for the express purpose of being a “servant of all” giving our life “a ransom for many” as Christ did for us. We are given this honor to suffer and overcome as Christ did so that “many hearts may be revealed” (1Jn 4:17), and we thank our Father “for so it seemed good in thy sight” to hide these things from the wise and the prudent and to reveal them unto babes first.

Mar 10:44  And whosoever of you will be the chiefest^G4413, shall be servant of all.   For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. 

Luk 2:35  (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. 

1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 

Mat 11:25  At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 
Mat 11:26  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. 

G4413
πρῶτος
prōtos
pro’-tos

Contracted superlative of G4253; foremost (in time, place, order or importance): – before, beginning, best, chief (-est), first (of all), former.

Psa 116:3  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

Having this honour of being first to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life (Joh 17:3), does not come without a cost which Christ gives us the ability to incur through him. 

Luk 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. 

Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 
Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 
Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Joh 8:23  And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. [1Jn 2:16]
Joh 8:24  I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

“The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow” are understood when we come to understand what flesh really is and we see our powerlessness over our own body of death that has all the sin of the world residing in it, that we can only overcome by believing in Christ once the Comforter is sent (Rev 13:4).

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

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. 

The sacrifice of Christ and the indebtedness which we all have for what He has done for us is the most important cost to consider in our hearts, and God willing, we will never take for granted His sacrifice which has made it possible for all indebtedness to God to be covered.

Mat 18:34  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 
Mat 18:35  So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. 

Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 
Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 

Psa 116:4  Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. 

It is when God brings the elect to see our helpless and hopeless condition, the powerless soul that Adam has, that we will by His grace call “upon the name of the LORD” and cry out “O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul“. It is those with whom God is working in this age who will be experiencing the much tribulation that brings us to our wits’ end, to the end that we would trust in the Almighty and give thanks for those wonderful works to the children of men.

Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. 

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; 

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Psa 116:5  Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. 
Psa 116:6  The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. 

These gracious works of the LORD of working with His children and receiving them through the trials of this life demonstrate the mercy and the righteous mind of our Lord who causes us to be “brought low” but also comforts and helps us “and he helped me” through those things which we suffer today. This life is bringing us to examine and judge ourselves today so that we don’t have to be judged in the lake of fire in the future, and so that we can enter into life today learning obedience by those things which we suffer. Entering into life through Christ is being able to walk in holiness and “cast out devils” and “do cures to day and to morrow” so that on “the third day I shall be perfected”.

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 

2Co 1:3  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 
2Co 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 
2Co 1:5  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 

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;

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Next week, Lord willing,Declare, we will look at the next few verses of Psalm 116 where we will examine how it is possible to “walk before the LORD in the land of the living” that God says those who are given to keep his commandments will do. 

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.