Psalm 116:16 O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, and the son of your handmaid: you have loosed my bonds. I. THE OLD BONDS LOOSED. No sooner is a man united to the Crucified One by living faith, than the sentence, borne by the Surety, falls from off him (as it is written, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us"), and, with that sentence, all the other bonds together — sin, Satan, the world. II. THE NEW BONDS WHICH HAVE COME IN PLACE OF THE OLD FOR EVER. 1. The nature of the new bonds. As they consist in the service of God, so that service is, as to the character of it, first, true; second, entire; and third, hearty and free. 2. The spring and source of the new bonds. It is taught here as to this, that it is the loosing of the old bonds which is the source and spring of the new. (1) The loosing of the old bonds is the source and spring of the new, in that it is indispensable to the whole formation of them. So long as the old are not loosed, the new cannot exist. (2) The loosing of the old bonds is the source and spring of the new, inasmuch as it fixes the new, many ways, sweetly and strongly on the soul, — enhances many ways the obligation of God's service on the soul. (3) The loosing of the old bonds is the source and spring of the new, in that God's express purpose and design in the loosing of the old was to fix the new for ever upon the soul, — to set the soul free in order to its serving and glorifying Him for ever. (4) The loosing of the old bonds is the source and spring of the new, in that it brings into the soul a Divine power and strength, — the power of the Holy Ghost, effectually to persuade, enable, constrain, the soul to the service of God. (5) The loosing of the old bonds is the source and spring of the new, in that, besides the power, it brings into the soul all manner of inducements, persuasives, motives, to the service of God; and specially among these, the motive of an overpowering gratitude and love, under whose blessed influence it comes to pass that, whereas we could not serve God before, now we cannot but serve Him, as David sings in this psalm, "What shall I render unto the Lord," etc. (C. J. Brown, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. |
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