Psalm 56:12


Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.

Preached on 6 September 1767 (and 12 February 1776)
 
The promise fulfilled: Psalm 110:3. [1]
 
They do not serve from constraint, but from a principle of love – he wins them by his goodness, and shows them such an affecting display of his power, wisdom and mercy that their hearts are subdued and they say Thy vows are upon me.
 
That this is all of grace is implied in the expression Thy vows. Many have made vows to God in a natural state, but such are their own vows, not his – being made neither in dependence upon his strength, nor according to his Word, nor with a view to his glory. Before we can vow aright, we must be sensible of our own weakness, and unworthiness; we must understand the Gospel way of salvation, and be delivered from the reigning influence of self.
 
1. The believer has vowed himself to God by some solemn and hearty surrender, which has been renewed, confirmed and strengthened from time  to time.
  1.1 The first season is when the soul first tastes that the Lord is gracious – when after many exercises and fears, Jesus is revealed by the Spirit and received by faith. Then the language is Now I am thine. And this is confirmed:
  1.2 upon a recovery from backsliding – this often appears a greater and more astonishing mercy if possible than a first conversion. See Ezra 9:13,14. [2]
  1.3 when delivered from some great trouble. Such the Lord often permits, to prove and exercise faith, or as a chastisement for sin. In the time of trouble, the believer is often enabled to call upon the Lord and to vow – but the sweetest vows are when prayer is answered, and help afforded. When mercy has been great, seasonable, unexpected – when it breaks its way through a thousand evils on our part, and we are heard and saved, notwithstanding all the complaints, unbelief and murmurings, which might have justly provoked him to cast us off, then the heart is overpowered and the enquiry is What shall I render? [3]
  1.4 And as these things are known not once only but are often repeated in a believer’s experience it comes to pass that in a course of walking through the wilderness, the soul is bound with vows innumerable – Yea whenever faith is in exercise, and we are enabled to look back upon the way we have been led through the wilderness, we still say – Thy vows are upon me. A sight of the place where we have made our vows is sometimes sufficient to recall to our minds a long train of mercies and wonders. But:
 
2. What is implied in these vows:
  2.1 to choose God in Christ as our God and our portion.
  2.2 to renounce sin and self.
  2.3 to embrace the way of his commandments.
  2.4 to yield ourselves to his disposal.
  Nothing less than this will satisfy a gracious [?]– though alas we may take shame to ourselves and confess we have broken them all.
 
3. Let us enquire farther, what special use we are to make of this thought.
  3.1 To quicken us in a declining  frame. Are you growing cold? Look back and see what God has done and what you have said in times past.
  3.2 To encourage us under new troubles – so David here and in other places. When greatly distressed he encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
  3.3 To animate us in approaching to the Lord in his ordinances – particularly in the ordinance of the bread and wine. If you can go to the table in this frame, your hearts will be humbled and melted and your desires enlarged.
 
Those of you who know nothing of this, can have no present interest in his promises, nay you are exposed to all his threatenings – awful case! But yet there is hope – Why not give yourselves to him? Can you serve a better master?

 
Endnotes:
 
 [1] Psalm 110:3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
[2] Ezra 9:13,14 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?
[3] Psalm 116:12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?


Acknowledgements:
Cowper & Newton Museum, John Newton's notebook No. 43