You Owe God Some Thanks

Psalm 116:12–19 “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!”

Introduction

The story is told about a little boy who went shopping with his mother one afternoon. As they walked through the store, the owner recognized the young boy immediately. Years earlier, that little boy's father had risked his own life to save the owner's life during a terrible accident. The owner had never forgotten the sacrifice. He had spent years looking for an opportunity to say, "Thank you."

So when he saw the boy, he smiled and called him over.

He reached behind the counter, grabbed a large paper bag, and began filling it with candy, toys, and all kinds of gifts. Then he placed the bag on the counter and said, "Son, take whatever you want. In fact, take as much as you can carry."

The little boy just stood there.

The owner thought perhaps he was shy, so he encouraged him again.

"Go ahead. It's all for you. Take it."

But the boy never moved.

Finally, the owner reached into the bag himself with both hands and began filling the little boy's arms until he could barely hold everything that had been given to him.

As they walked out of the store, his mother looked at him with a puzzled expression and asked, "Baby, why didn't you take the gifts yourself? He told you to take all you wanted."

The little boy smiled and gave an answer far wiser than his years.

He said,

"Because his hands are bigger than mine."

And that's a testimony of every believer in this room.

If we'd had our way, we would've settled for what our little hands could hold.

But God didn't, doesn't, and won't bless us according to the size of our hands.

He blesses us according to the greatness of His hands.

There were times you asked for a job...

He gave you provision.

You asked for healing...

He gave you strength to endure until healing arrived.

There were dangers you never saw because His hands were covering you.

There were accidents that never happened because His hands were steering you.

There were doors you were crying over because they closed, not realizing His hands were keeping you from walking into destruction.

There were seasons when you thought God was doing nothing...

But all the while His hands were working behind the scenes.

Can I testify this afternoon?

God has done more for us than we will ever know this side of heaven.

He's been feeding us when we didn't deserve to eat.

Keeping us when we deserved to be consumed.

Forgiving us when we deserved judgment.

You owe God some thanks. In case you need a few reasons let me help you this morning.

He's kept your mind.

He's kept your family.

He's kept your body.

He's kept your faith.

He's kept His promises.

He's kept you!

I dare you pause and begin to count what God has done...

Think about the prayers He answered...

The storms He carried you through...

The doors He opened...

The enemies He defeated...

The sins He forgave...

You can't help but ask yourself one question...

"How can I ever repay Him?"

How do you repay the God who woke you up this morning?

How do you repay the God who kept death from knocking on your door?

How do you repay the God who loved you when you didn't even love yourself?

The answer is...

You can't.

You don't have enough money.

You don't have enough talent.

You don't have enough time.

You don't have enough years.

You could praise Him every day for the rest of your life and still never balance the account.

But while you may never be able to fully repay Him...

You owe God some thanks! ( I feel like myself getting happy already)

This is exactly where David finds himself in the 116th number of Psalm.

David has looked back over his life and he realizes that every chapter bears the fingerprints of God's grace.

Every victory has God's signature on it.

Every deliverance has God's name attached to it.

Every blessing has God's hand behind it.

So overwhelmed by God's goodness, David raises one of the greatest questions ever asked in Scripture:

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?" (Psalm 116:12)

In other words...

"Lord, after everything You've done for me... what could I possibly give back?"

Church, before we get to David's answer, let me ask you one more time:

Has He ever made a way?

Has He ever healed your body?

Has He ever forgiven your sins?

Has He ever opened a door no one else could open?

Has He ever kept you when you should have lost your mind?

Has He ever protected your children?

Has He ever put food on your table?

Has He ever been better to you than you've been to yourself?

If you identify with anything I just described, I don't understand how you’re still sitting in your seat and not trying to turnover the red wooden bench yal sitting on.

Because when I think about the goodness of Jesus, and ALL that He’s done for me…

"I OWE GOD SOME THANKS!" (Sit down you making me nervous)

Now, before we shout over verse 12, let's slow down and walk into David's living room, because every text has a context.

One of the greatest mistakes we make in church is celebrating somebody's praise without first understanding their pain.

See, praise always has a backstory.

Nobody just wakes up saying, "Thank You, Jesus."

There's usually a midnight behind that morning.

There's usually a valley behind that victory.

There's usually some tears behind that testimony.

And Psalm 116 is no different.

Psalm 116 belongs to a collection of songs known as the Egyptian Hallel, Psalms 113 through 118. These were songs Israel sang during the Passover celebration as they remembered God's mighty deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

Every year they would gather around the table, eat the Passover meal, and sing these songs, not because life was perfect, but because they refused to forget what God had already done.

Can I pause right there and tell somebody that's one of the problems with this generation?

We've become experts at remembering our problems and amateurs at remembering God's provision.

We can remember every person who hurt us.

Every door that closed.

Every prayer that hasn't been answered.

Every disappointment.

But sometimes we need to sit down and remember every Red Sea God opened...

Every Pharaoh He defeated...

Every wilderness He brought us through...

Every time He made water come out of a rock...

Every time He put food on the ground when there was nothing in the refrigerator...

Every time He carried us when we didn't have enough strength to carry ourselves.

Sometimes worship is simply remembering.

The old saints didn't need a praise team to remind them.

All they had to do was think.

"When I think of the goodness of Jesus..."

That's what Israel was doing.

They were thinking.

They were remembering.

They were rehearsing God's faithfulness.

Now here's what makes this Psalm even more powerful.

Most biblical scholars believe that on the night Jesus gathered with His disciples for the Last Supper, after they had eaten the Passover meal, this was one of the songs they sang together before walking to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26).

Think about that for a moment.

Jesus is singing about thanksgiving...

Knowing Judas has already made the deal.

Knowing Peter is about to deny Him.

Knowing the soldiers are sharpening their swords.

Knowing the cross is only hours away.

Knowing nails are waiting.

Knowing a crown of thorns is waiting.

Knowing Golgotha is waiting.

Yet before He goes to Calvary...

He sings.

Can I tell you what that teaches us?

Thanksgiving is not determined by your circumstances.

It is determined by your confidence in God's sovereignty.

Jesus teaches us that you can praise God even when Friday is coming because you know Sunday is on the way.

Now when we look specifically at Psalm 116, David is writing from the other side of a crisis.

He never tells us exactly what the crisis was.

Some scholars believe it was a near-death illness.

Others believe enemies were pursuing him.

Still others believe it followed one of the many seasons in which Saul hunted David like an animal.

Whatever it was...

It was serious enough that David says in verses 3 and 4:

"The cords of death entangled me; the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord..."

In other words...

"I wasn't having a bad day...

I thought I was having my last day."

Death had wrapped itself around him like ropes.

Fear had become his constant companion.

His strength was gone.

His options had run out.

His resources had dried up.

And when nobody else could help...

David did what every believer ought to do.

He called on the Lord.

And I love God's response.

The Bible doesn't say God ignored him.

It doesn't say God put him on hold.

It doesn't say heaven sent him to voicemail.

The Lord heard him.

The Lord delivered him.

The Lord preserved him.

The Lord wiped his tears.

The Lord steadied his feet.

The Lord gave him another chance to walk in the land of the living.

By the time David gets to verse 12, he's no longer looking at his problems.

He's looking back over God's faithfulness.

He's replaying every rescue.

Every answered prayer.

Every act of mercy.

Every undeserved blessing.

And suddenly, gratitude overwhelms him.

He doesn't ask for another blessing.

He doesn't ask for more money.

He doesn't ask for another victory.

Instead, he asks one of the most profound questions in all of Scripture:

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?"

Church, David isn't asking because God is lacking anything.

He's asking because a heart that has truly experienced God's grace cannot remain silent.

When you realize how many times God has rescued you...

When you remember the accidents that should have killed you...

The sicknesses that should have buried you...

The mistakes that should have ruined you...

The sins that should have condemned you...

The prayers God answered that you forgot you even prayed...

There comes a moment when words are no longer enough.

Your heart begins to cry,

"Lord... I can never repay You... but I sure do owe You some thanks."

And that becomes the central truth of our text today: Gratitude is the only appropriate response to God's immeasurable grace. The question we should be asking right through here is why do I owe God Thanks? I'm glad you asked, here it is:

Point One: You Owe God Thanks Because God Has Been Better to You Than You've Been to Yourself

Psalm 116:12

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?"

Dot get it twisted, This is not a question of repayment.

The Hebrew word for render means to return, to give back, to respond.

The psalmist realizes something every believer must learn:

God has done too much for me, He’s been too good for me to act as though He has done nothing.

Many people enjoy God's gifts without ever honoring the Giver.

David begins by asking a question that every believer ought to ask at some point in life:

"Lord... after everything You've done for me, what could I possibly give back?"

Notice what David says.

He doesn't say "benefit."

He says "benefits."

Plural.

Because when you really stop and take inventory of your life, you discover God has never blessed you just once.

He's been blessing you all along.

David starts counting, but somewhere along the way he realizes God's goodness cannot be calculated.

Have you ever tried counting God's blessings?

You start with one...

Then you remember another.

Then another.

Then another.

Before long you realize His goodness has been chasing you your entire life.

The songwriter said,

"Count your blessings, name them one by one."

But the truth is...

Some blessings can't even be counted.

Because some blessings you never knew happened.

There were accidents God prevented that never made the news.

Diseases He kept from your body before they ever reached your bloodstream.

Conversations He interrupted that would've destroyed your reputation.

Relationships He ended because He knew what you didn't.

People walked away from your life, and you cried over them...

Only to discover later God was protecting you from what you couldn't see.

Can I preach it like I feel it?

There are blessings you thanked God for...

And then there are blessings you don't even know to thank Him for.

Because while you were sleeping...

God was working.

While you were worrying...

God was rearranging.

While you were trying to figure it out...

God had already worked it out.

That's why Jeremiah said in (Lamentations 3:22)

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not."

If God treated us according to our performance instead of His mercy, none of us would be sitting here today.

If God answered us according to our righteousness instead of His grace...

None of us would have another chance.

David isn't celebrating because he has been good.

David is celebrating because God has been good.

There's a difference.

Our goodness is inconsistent.

God's goodness is constant.

Our faithfulness rises and falls.

His faithfulness never changes.

We quit.

He keeps.

We fail.

He forgives.

We wander.

He pursues.

We forget Him.

He remembers.

Psalm 103 says,

"He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."

Do you know what that means?

It means you've been living your entire life on mercy you didn't earn.

Every morning you wake up...

Mercy.

Every breath you breathe...

Mercy.

Every prayer He didn't answer because He knew better...

Mercy.

Every time He looked beyond your faults and supplied your needs...

Mercy.

Every time He gave you another chance after you promised Him you wouldn't do it again...

Mercy.

If the truth be told, God has been better to us than we've been to ourselves.

We've made decisions that almost destroyed us.

We've walked into situations He warned us about.

We've ignored His voice.

We've chosen our will over His will.

Yet somehow...in the middle of my mess ( I'm trying to compass myself)

He kept making a way.

He kept protecting.

He kept providing.

He kept forgiving.

He kept loving.

So when David asks,

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?"

The answer begins right here:

Lord, I owe You thanks because You've been better to me than I ever deserved... and You've been better to me than I've even been to myself.

Is there anybody here who knows if God had given you what you deserved, you wouldn't be here today?

But because of His grace...

Because of His mercy...

Because of His patience...

You're still standing.

You're still breathing.

You're still praising.

And if that's your testimony, you ought not have to wait until the organ plays, or the choir sings, or the preacher gets up

You ought to be able to lift your hands right in the middle of where you and shout

"Lord, I owe You some thanks!" You owe God some thanks because He’s been better, but then get this

Point TwoYou Owe God Thanks by Publicly Proclaiming What He Has Done

Psalm 116:13-14

"I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people."

After David asks the question in verse 12, he immediately begins to answer it.

Notice what he doesn't say.

He doesn't say, "I'll send God a gift."

He doesn't say, "I'll build Him a palace."

Instead, David says, "I will take the cup of salvation... I will call upon the name of the Lord... I will pay my vows... in the presence of all His people."

In other words, "I'm not going to keep God's goodness to myself."

Gratitude was never designed to be private.

When God has done something public in your life, He deserves a public praise.

David says, "I will take the cup of salvation."

In Israel's worship, the cup was lifted as a visible acknowledgment that every blessing came from the hand of God. Before they celebrated the gift, they honored the Giver.

Rev. Clay Evans put it this way “ We like to receive blessings, but forget who the blessings come from. We will receive gifts, get excited about the gift but forget to thank the giver”

Can I suggest that one of the reasons people struggle to praise is because they've started taking credit for what only God could have done?

We live in a culture that celebrates self-made people.

"I worked hard."

"I earned it."

"I made it happen."

But every child of God ought to know there is no such thing as a self-made believer.

If God hadn't given you strength, you couldn't have worked.

If God hadn't given you breath, you couldn't have gotten out of bed.

If God hadn't opened the door, your résumé would've stayed on somebody's desk.

If God hadn't touched the doctor's hands, the surgery would've ended differently.

If God hadn't kept your mind, the pressure would've broken you.

Every good and perfect gift comes from above.

That's why David says, "I'm going to lift the cup."

"I'm going to let everybody know where my help came from."

Can I ask you something?

When was the last time somebody heard your testimony?

Not your complaint.

Not your frustration.

Not what went wrong.

But what God brought you through.

Because the truth is, we are often louder about our problems than we are about God's promises.

We'll tell everybody how hard life has been.

But we get quiet when it's time to tell people how faithful God has been.

David says, "Not me."

"I'm going to call on the name of the Lord."

"I'm going to pay my vows... in the presence of all His people."

David intentionally mentions "the presence of all His people" because he understands that thanksgiving is contagious.

One person's testimony can strengthen another person's faith.

When you stand up and say, "God healed me," somebody who's waiting on healing says, "Maybe He'll do it for me."

When you testify, "God made a way when I didn't see one," somebody who's standing at a dead end finds hope.

When you say, "God restored my family," someone else's faith begins to rise.

Your testimony isn't just about what happened to you.

It's about what God wants to do through you.

The enemy wants you to keep your story hidden because he knows your testimony has power.

Revelation tells us that God's people overcome "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."

It wasn't just the blood.

It was the blood and the testimony.

Because the blood saved you...

But your testimony tells the world what the blood can do.

Can I tell you why some of us owe God a louder praise?

Because He's brought us through things people never even knew we were carrying.

Some of us smiled while our hearts were breaking.

We came to church while our world was falling apart.

We worshiped while waiting on answers.

And if God has brought you out, don't rob Him of the glory He deserves by acting like you did it on your own.

If He's been good enough to bring you through it, then He's worthy for you to tell somebody about it.

That's why the songwriter declared,

"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so..." (Psalm 107:2)

Because every time you tell somebody what God has done, you remind the world that He is still saving, still healing, still restoring, still providing, and still keeping His people.

So David says,

"I will take the cup of salvation... I will call upon the name of the Lord... I will pay my vows... in the presence of all His people."

In other words,

"If God wasn't ashamed to bless me publicly, I won't be ashamed to praise Him publicly."

And Is there anybody in this sanctuary who isn't ashamed of what God has done?

You don't mind telling somebody He made a way.

You don't mind saying He healed your body.

You don't mind admitting He forgave your sins.

You don't mind confessing that if it had not been for the Lord on your side, you don't know where you'd be.

Then don't wait until tomorrow.

Don't wait until next Sunday.

Open your mouth right now and give God the public praise He's worthy of.

Because you owe God some thanks!.

You owe God some thanks because hes been better. You owe some God Thanks by publicly proclaiming and then lastly,

Point Three You Owe God Thanks by Giving Him More Than Your Praise—You Owe Him Your Life

Church, when David reaches the end of this psalm, something changes.

He begins by asking,

"What shall I render unto the Lord?"

But by the time he gets to the end, he has discovered something.

There is no gift big enough.

No offering expensive enough.

No song long enough.

No praise loud enough.

No sacrifice great enough...

To repay God for everything God has done.

So David stops looking for something to give...

And he starts talking about someone to be.

Listen to what he says:

"O Lord, truly I am Thy servant."

Notice he says it twice.

"I am Thy servant... I am Thy servant..."

Whenever the Bible repeats something, it's not because God forgot He already said it.

It's because He wants us to pay attention.

David is saying,

"Lord, I belong to You."

"My life."

"My gifts."

"My future."

"My victories "

"My story are all Yours."

And that's what real thanksgiving looks like.

Real gratitude is not measured by how loud you shout on Sunday.

It's measured by how surrendered you live on Monday.

Anybody can lift their hands for fifteen minutes.

The question is...

Will you let God have your life for the rest of the week?

Because God has never been after your applause.

He's always been after your heart.

Can I prove it to you?

Romans 12:1 says,

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice..."

Did you catch Paul's argument?

He doesn't say present your body because you are afraid or God will punish you.

He says,

"By the mercies of God."

In other words...

When you stop and think about how merciful God has been...

Surrender becomes the only reasonable response.

What do you give the God who already owns everything?

Psalm 24 says,

"The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof."

He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

He owns the hills the cattle stand on.

He owns the silver.

the gold.

the stars.

the oceans.

He even owns the breath you're breathing right now.

So what can you possibly give a God who already owns it all?

Only one thing...

Yourself.

That's the one gift He will never force from you.

He wants your willing surrender.

He wants your heart.

He wants your obedience.

He wants your worship.

He wants your trust.

David says,

"Thou hast loosed my bonds."

Don't miss that.

David remembers that he used to be bound.

Bound by fear.

by despair.

by the threat of death.

But God broke every chain.

And here's the truth:

People who know they've been set free don't mind serving the One who freed them.

When you've been rescued from drowning, you don't complain about thanking the lifeguard.

When you've been pardoned from death row, you don't argue with the judge who signed your release.

When you've been brought out of darkness into marvelous light, serving God isn't a burden...

It's a privilege.

That's why David says,

"I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving."

Notice he calls it a sacrifice.

Because thanksgiving isn't always easy.

Sometimes you have to thank God while you're still waiting.

Sometimes you have to worship with tears in your eyes.

Sometimes you have to praise Him before the diagnosis changes.

Before the job comes.

Before the child comes home.

Before the marriage is restored.

Before the answer arrives.

It's called a sacrifice.

But David says,

"I'll do it anyway."

Because I've lived long enough to discover that even when I don't understand God's hand...

I can still trust God's heart. Im in my seat but

Is there anybody here who knows God deserves more than an hour of your Sunday?

He deserves your Monday.

Your Tuesday.

Your Wednesday.

Your Thursday.

Your Friday.

Your Saturday.

He deserves your mind.

Your mouth.

Your hands.

Your gifts.

Your witness.

Your worship.

Your life.

Because after all He's done...

After every chain He's broken...

After every burden He's lifted...

After every prayer He's answered...

The least I can do...

Is place my whole life in His hands and say,

"Lord, everything I am belongs to You... because I owe You some thanks."

Sermon Close

"You Still Owe God Some Thanks"

Church...

Can I tell you what blesses me about this text?

David asks a question...

But he never completely answers it.

He asks,

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?"

David spends the rest of the Psalm talking about lifting the cup...

Calling on the name of the Lord...

Paying his vows...

Offering sacrifices of thanksgiving...

Serving the Lord...

And all of those are right.

All of those are necessary.

But even after you've praised Him...

Even after you've testified...

Even after you've surrendered your life...

If the truth be told...

You still haven't paid Him back.

Because God's goodness is too great.

His mercy is too deep.

His grace is too wide.

His love is too high.

You can spend your entire life thanking God...

And you'll still be in debt to His grace.

The songwriter was right:

"If I had ten thousand tongues, I couldn't thank Him enough."

David didn't know it then...

But there was one benefit he had not yet seen.

He had not yet seen a little town called Bethlehem.

He had not yet seen an old rugged cross standing on a hill called Golgotha.

He had not yet seen a borrowed tomb.

He had not yet seen Resurrection morning.

David knew what it meant for God to save his life...

But he didn't yet know what it would mean for God to save the world.

Because hundreds of years after David laid down his pen...

God answered David's question.

David asked,

"What shall I render unto the Lord?"

And God answered,

"You could never repay Me... so I'll make the payment Myself."

For God so loved the world...

That He gave His only begotten Son.

Church, one Friday...

They marched Him from judgment hall to judgment hall.

They lied on Him.

They mocked Him.

They spit on Him.

They pressed a crown of thorns down upon His brow.

They laid a rugged cross upon His bruised shoulders.

They stretched Him wide.

They hung Him high.

They drove nails into His hands.

They riveted spikes through His feet.

And there, between two thieves...

The spotless Lamb of God...

Became the sacrifice for sinful humanity.

He took nails that belonged to us.

He bore wrath that belonged to us.

He carried a cross that belonged to us.

He paid a debt...

He did not owe...

Because we owed a debt...

We could never pay.

Isaiah said,

"He was wounded for our transgressions... He was bruised for our iniquities... and with His stripes we are healed."

Church, don't miss the irony.

David asked,

"What shall I render?"

Jesus answered,

"It is finished."

David wondered how to repay God.

Jesus paid what none of us could.

And because He paid it all...

We don't live trying to earn God's love.

We live because we've already received it.

But don't stop at Friday.

Because if all He did was die...

We would still be hopeless.

Early...

I said early...

Early Sunday morning...

Before the sun kissed the sky...

Before the rooster crowed...

Before the women finished their walk...

Jesus got up.

Not weak.

Not wounded.

Not defeated.

But with all power in His hands.

Power over death.

Power over hell.

Power over the grave.

Power over sin.

Power over Satan.

Power to save.

Power to heal.

Power to restore.

Power to deliver.

Power to keep.

And because He lives...

We can face tomorrow.

Because He lives...

Our sins are forgiven.

Because He lives...

Death has lost its sting.

Because He lives...

The grave has lost its victory.

And because He lives...

Every benefit David celebrated has now been multiplied through Jesus Christ.

So church...

If He woke you up this morning...

You owe Him some thanks.

If He put food on your table...

You owe Him some thanks.

If He forgave your sins...

You owe Him some thanks.

If He kept your mind when life was trying to break it...

You owe Him some thanks.

If He carried you through grief...

You owe Him some thanks.

If He opened a door nobody else could open...

You owe Him some thanks.

If He closed a door that would've destroyed you...

You owe Him some thanks.

If He's been a doctor in your sick room...

A lawyer in your courtroom...

A friend when everybody else walked away...

A mother to the motherless...

A father to the fatherless...

Bread when you were hungry...

Water when you were thirsty...

Shelter in the time of storm...

A bridge over troubled waters...

A heart fixer...

And a mind regulator...

You owe God some thanks!

So before you leave this sanctuary...

Before you go back to your job...

Before you return to your routine...

Before another blessing comes...

And I wonder...

Is there anybody in this house...

Who has looked back over your life...

Counted a few of God's benefits...

Remembered where He brought you from...

Seen what He brought you through...

"Lord, I may never be able to repay You... but as long as I've got breath in my body... I'll spend the rest of my days giving You the thanks that belongs to Your name!"

For the Bible says,

"Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord!" (Psalm 150:6)

So if you've got breath...

Use it.

If you've got a voice...

Lift it.

If you've got a testimony...

Tell it.

And if you've got Jesus...

Then you've got every reason to stand to your feet and declare with all your heart:

"Thank You, Lord! Thank You for Your grace! Thank You for Your mercy! Thank You for Your Son! Thank You for another chance! Thank You for every benefit You've poured into my life! Lord... I owe You some thanks!"