Thinking About Reverence
Psalms 119:33-40
October 17, 2021
The last time we discussed this stanza from Psalms 119
The clear focus of our study was on verse 38.
“Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.”
And indeed, even as I approached this text now ten years later
That was still the verse that really jumped off the page at me.
The Psalmist wants reverence.
• It is literally the word for “fear”
• He understood that it was God’s word and God’s word alone which produced that necessary reality we know as “the fear of the LORD”
He wanted that holy reverence.
And he knew that it only came through the word of God.
We read some great passages from the O.T. that illustrated this point.
When God gave orders concerning a FUTURE KING, He said:
Deuteronomy 17:18-20 “Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. “It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.”
The king had to be committed to God’s word
Because that was the only thing that would produce
The kind of reverence he needed to be a godly king.
When everyone came to Jerusalem for the FEAST OF BOOTHS:
Deuteronomy 31:10-13 “Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. “Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. “Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”
When they all gathered they were to read the whole Law
Because it alone could produce the fear of the LORD that was necessary.
And if we go to the New Testament
We might listen to Paul’s admonition to Timothy:
1 Timothy 4:13-16 “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
Paul wanted Timothy to read God’s word, teach God’s word, preach God’s word Because it is only God’s word that can “ensure salvation”.
It is only God’s word that produces that type of fear and reverence.
And we understand that.
IT IS GOD’S WORD WHICH LAYS US BARE
We have all experienced what the writer of Hebrews taught:
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
God’s word has a way of exposing and attacking
Even the most hidden crevices of a sinful heart.
IT IS GOD’S WORD WHICH EXPOSES US WITH GOD’S HOLINESS
We know what James meant when he compared God’s word to a mirror.
It first shows us who we are.
But at the same time it shows us the perfection of God and of Christ
And the extreme contrast between who He is and what we are
Is a convicting and condemning reality.
We see our wickedness and our sinfulness in God’s word.
IT IS GOD’S WORD THAT OPENS UP TO US THE REALITIES OF JUDGMENT
No sooner do we learn of our sin and of God’s perfection then are we introduced to the realities of the judgment which sin brings.
• We see the earth flooded…
• We see Sodom burned…
• We see Babel fall…
And it isn’t long until the Law and the prophets show up to show us why.
It is God’s word that teaches us to fear God.
IT IS GOD’S WORD THAT EXPLAINS THE GLORIES OF SALVATION
• Just when God’s word exposes and condemns us…
• Just when God’s word reveals the perfection of a holy God…
• Just when God’s word shows us the coming judgment of sinners…
• It immediately opens up to us the possibility of mercy and forgiveness and salvation.
AND THIS TAKES OUR FEAR TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL.
It moves us from the fear that is afraid of God
To the type of fear that reverences and loves God.
John described it like this:
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
God’s word produces all of that.
• It takes sinners who are at enmity with God
• It shows them their pitiful condition
• Then it leads those sinners to redemption
• And turns them into sons who love and respect their Heavenly Father.
We have all witnessed that journey in our lives.
God’s word leads us through all of that.
So we understand the Psalmists cry in verse 38, “Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.”
THAT IS A GREAT REQUEST.
Well LAST TIME we really focused on the last half of that verse.
We talked about the “as that which produces reverence for You” part.
TONIGHT I want to focus more on the first part of that verse.
I want to look at the “Establish Your word to Your servant” part.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
We know why the Psalmist wants God to establish His word
(because it will produce reverence).
The question I want to ponder tonight is:
HOW DOES GOD DO THAT?
What did the Psalmist mean
When he asked God to “establish His word” to him?
If you ask God to do that in your life, what exactly are you asking?
The Hebrew word for “establish” is QUM (koom)
And in this particular tense it means
“to raise”, “to set up”, “to build”, “to make binding”
He is asking God to raise up His word or to make His word binding in his life so that it produces reverence.
And I think you’re going to like the imagery the Psalmist uses
To flesh out this request to God.
BUT BEFORE WE FULLY UNPACK HIS REQUEST
Let’s go back to the beginning of this stanza because I want you to understand the Psalmists desire.
(READ 33-34)
“Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, And I shall observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart.”
What we see here is that the Psalmist has a goal or an objective.
His goal for his life is obedience.
But not just any old obedience.
• He has no interest in half-hearted obedience.
• He has no interest in temporary obedience.
This guy wants total obedience in all ways.
Look at this request.
“Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, AND I SHALL OBSERVE IT TO THE END.”
• That is enduring obedience.
• You give me Your Law and I’m going to keep it forever.
“Give me understanding, that I may observe your law AND KEEP IT WITH ALL MY HEART.”
• That is full obedience.
That is a pretty lofty goal isn’t it?
I want to obey You full and I want to obey You forever.
That is a great goal.
Indeed it should be the goal of every believer.
BUT AGAIN WE RUN INTO A PROBLEM.
(no one has ever been able to live up to such a desire)
No one except Christ.
• Only Jesus can claim to have fulfilled the desire set forth in those verses.
• Only Jesus obeyed God fully.
• Only Jesus obeyed to the end.
It certainly represents a noble goal and a lofty standard for us,
But the reality is that none of us live up to it.
And of course this is why we rejoice again
In the imputed righteousness of Christ.
“In Him” we fulfill this.
“In Him” we identify with this.
But on our own we fall miserably short.
And what becomes apparent in this stanza is that
THE PSALMIST KNOWS THAT ABOUT HIMSELF.
His goal is right on.
Perfect obedience forever.
The problem seems to be that he is WELL AWARE that
He does not live up to such a lofty expectation.
AND IF YOU’RE PAYING ATTENTION
YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT THE PSALMISTS SOLUTION IS
• What is it that he needs to help him obey to the end with all his heart?
• What is the thing he is currently lacking that causes him not to obey like this?
REVERENCE
In his mind, if he had more fear of the Lord;
If he had more reverence, then his obedience would be better.
And that is sound logic.
• Fear is a great motivator.
• You are likely never more compliant than when you are afraid.
SO in order for him to fine tune his obedience
He wants God to “establish” (build up) His word
So that he’ll be more reverent and thus more obedient.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND HIS THINKING?
Now that’s not all you need to see.
At the same time the Psalmist recognizes his problem.
That is to say he knows why he lacks reverence.
He knows why he fails to rightly focus on God’s word at all times.
HE GETS DISTRACTED
There are 3 massive distractions that the Psalmist lists that seem to always catch his eye and pull him away from his devotion to God’s word and the reverence that comes with it.
Do you see them?
(38) “Incline my heart to Your testimonies And not to dishonest gain.”
There is the first one.
“dishonest gain”
It is that which has the propensity to catch his eye; to turn his head;
and to lead him astray.
I like the Hebrew word there, it is BESA (beh-tsah)
It can mean “covetousness” or “profit obtained by violence”
Or my personal favorite “filthy lucre”
You’ve seen the word:
Genesis 37:26 “Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?”
• It was the corrupt profit that Judah wanted from the life of Joseph.
• It was this desire for a profit that led Judah to sell Joseph.
And the Psalmist knew that this temptation
Had the propensity to pull his heart away as well.
Too often he was captivated by the profit of this world.
Too often he was captivated by glittering gold of the world.
This is why even in the Old Testament when Moses was SEARCHING FOR ELDERS to share in the burden of judging the people, Moses laid out criteria:
Exodus 18:21 “Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.”
Spiritual leaders of the flock had to be those who hated dishonest gain.
This is a criteria that carries over into the New Testament
Where elders must be “free from the love of money.”
For Paul even describes false teachers as those who are characterized by it:
Titus 1:11 “For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.”
“sordid gain” is the phrase that the KJV translates “filthy lucre”.
Many of man has been derailed on his quest for godliness
Because he was captivated by the wealth of the world.
Paul told Timothy:
1 Timothy 6:9-11 “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God…”
Loving money will pull you away from devotion to God’s word
And the reverence it produces.
Well the Psalmist knew that in his own life.
“dishonest gain” had been one of those temptations that had distracted him in the past.
There is another distraction he mentions.
(37) “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways.”
Do you see the second distraction?
“VANITY”
This ISN’T the same word you are used to in Ecclesiastes
That speaks of a vapor or a mirage.
This word is SAV (shawv)
It means “emptiness” or “worthlessness” or “falsehood”
It is the word used when you are told
Not to “take the name of the LORD in vain”.
(Don’t let that be an empty confession)
But what it has to do with more in this case would be IDOLATRY.
Psalms 24:3-4 “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully.”
“falsehood” there is the same word as “vanity” here.
It is a man who was allured into trusting and following
The false hopes of the world.
• Certainly it could be a graven image…
• Certainly it could be a false deity…
• But it could also be just a propensity to get caught up in the affairs of life and to put your trust in a man.
Psalms 60:11 “O give us help against the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain.”
And again the Psalmist spoke of a thing
That had a tendency to push him off track.
And I think I can understand this one pretty easily.
Do you ever get caught up in politics?
(I have)
Is politics wrong?
• No, not necessarily.
• Christians have a civil duty and wisdom exercises that in a godly way.
But have you ever gotten so caught up in politics
That you tend to forget that God is sovereign over all things
And you actually start seeing some politician as your savior?
Not intentionally, but it happens doesn’t it?
Look, there have been plenty of Christians over the last 6 months
Who have longed for the return of Donald Trump
More than they even longed for the return of Christ.
Sometimes we can get distracted by “vanity”
(emptiness, worthlessness, falsehood)
The Psalmist said that he did.
“dishonest gain”, “vanity”
There was a third distraction.
(39) “Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Your ordinances are good.”
Do you see the third thing that had a tendency to distract him?
“REPROACH”
The word here speaks of the scorn of the enemy or the scorn of the world.
You might better identify it as persecution.
This one didn’t distract him in the same way as the first two.
• The first two had the propensity to captivate him.
• This one had the propensity to silence him and push him away.
It is when you don’t want to stir up trouble through your convictions.
It is when you just sort of go along with the crowd instead of inviting trouble.
And look, we’ve all been there too.
Someone once said, “There are times when silence is golden, but other times it’s just plain yellow.”
This fear of reproach has caused many of us
To shy away from obedience in our lives.
So I think we understand now where the Psalmist is coming from.
He is a man who wants to obey with all his heart firm until the end.
The problem is that he gets distracted.
He gets distracted by Treasure, Vanity, and Reproach
It has led to a lack of commitment to God’s word
And consequently a lack of reverence for God.
Can you identify?
(probably)
Well, as we said earlier,
His request to remedy all of this was perfect.
(38) “Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.”
• He wanted God to build up His word.
• He wanted God to bring His word to the forefront.
• He wanted God to make His word binding in his life.
And we asked, WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN?
Well let me show you what it meant to the Psalmist.
Look again at verse 36.
“Incline my heart to Your testimonies…”
“Incline” is a word that means “to extend” or even “to turn aside”.
It was often used of a man pitching his tents somewhere.
The Psalmist tells God,
• I want you to grab my heart, and I want you to extend it toward Your word.
• I want you to turn it aside.
• I want you to pitch the tent of my heart in You word.
You just grab my heart and force it into Your word
So that I am no longer distracted by dishonest gain.
Look at verse 37
“Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity…”
“Turn away” is a Hebrew word
That means “to pass over” or “to cover”
The Psalmist asks God to in effect put Your hand over my eyes so that I can no longer see those things.
He uses the same word down in verse 39
“Turn away my reproach which I dread…”
There it is again, just put You hand over my eyes
And don’t let me look at that stuff.
Look at verse 35
“Make me walk in the path of Your commandments…”
That word means just what it says.
God, you just push me where I need to go.
Now, as I studied all those words and gained an understanding of what the Psalmist was asking a vivid analogy came to my mind.
My dad was a horse trader as you all know.
His basic operation was to buy a horse, do a little training on that horse,
And then sell the horse for a profit.
Now, the process for this was pretty simple.
• You just had to make the horse ride good when you went to sell it.
I mean certainly you hope that it rides good the rest of its life,
But you have no control over that.
So our objective was simply to take a horse that might not ride good
And “school on it” enough to get it to ride good.
And there were techniques my dad had.
But basically it boiled down to this: “Find something the horse doesn’t want to do, and use whatever means necessary to get that horse to do it.”
Dad would often say, “That horse needs his attention got”
And some horses required more drastic measures than others.
The whole point was to teach that horse reverence.
If you had a horse that wasn’t walking in the fear of you,
It needed to learn that you were the boss and not the horse.
Now, we had techniques we used over and over.
• For example, some horses didn’t like to cross water, so when there was water in our little creek, you could go there and work on them until they crossed.
• There was runway behind our land with some big pipe structure that seemed to scare horses to death and so you could make them ride past it.
• Some horses wanted to go back to the barn, so you could prevent that or make them go slower.
• Some horses just didn’t pay attention so you could jig them through the mesquites until they learned to pay attention to you.
But there was something you quickly learned about riding those horses.
If you controlled their head, you controlled the horse.
(That’s why they put a bit in their mouth)
• That’s why dad would often say, “Pull their head around”
• That’s why people will put blinders on a horse to keep them from getting distracted.
Now, as I read this, I fully understood what the Psalmist was saying.
“I’m like a dumb horse”
• I get distracted by everything…
• I’m afraid of things…
• I don’t always pay attention…
• I want to do things that aren’t beneficial…
So God, put the blinders on me and pull my head around.
Then sink your spurs into my side
And make me go where I might not go on my own.
Do you see that prayer?
• God I want to be a man who obeys whole-heartedly to the end.
• But man I get distracted easily by the things of this world.
• Would you please take control and push me down the right path?
Would you take your word and push it right against my forehead
Until I learn reverence?
“Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.”
Have you ever prayed like that?
I didn’t use that wording, but I used to pray all the time, “God, keep me on a short leash, and use a choker chain if You have to.”
It was in essence the same thing this Psalmist is saying.
Now, where I want to close tonight is that
I WANT TO SHOW YOU HOW GOD ANSWERED THAT REQUEST.
I want you to see how He has answered that request for you.
He’s done it in two ways.
1) He sent Jesus to obey Him perfectly in your stead.
• Christ came and perfectly fulfilled the Law and then imputed that righteousness
to you.
So any fear of repercussion for having failed to obey totally is removed
Because in Christ God reckons us righteous.
From God’s perspective we have obeyed Him with all our heart until the end, because Christ did that and we are in Christ.
That’s one way God has answered that prayer.
And that is certainly good news.
But even as we said last week, we don’t just want justification,
WE ALSO WANT SANCTIFICATION.
I am certainly grateful that Christ has fulfilled this requirement on my behalf, but I still want to be obedient to God.
• This Psalmist wanted God to force him into obedience.
• This Psalmist wanted God to take His word and sort of cram it into his life.
• This Psalmist wanted God to take His heart and pitch a tent in the middle of His word.
• This Psalmist wanted God to produce reverence or fear in his life.
He in essence begged God to do it.
Here is the other thing God did for you.
2) He sent His Spirit to produce reverence in you.
Jeremiah 32:36-41 “Now therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine and by pestilence.’ “Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. “I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. “I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.”
That is THE OTHER VERSE in Jeremiah
That references the coming new covenant.
You are already familiar with the first.
Jeremiah 31:33-34 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
You are familiar with what Ezekiel said:
Ezekiel 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
Do you see how God has answered that request?
• He sent Christ to justify you by fulfilling this reality on your behalf.
• He sent His Spirit to sanctify you by producing this same reality in you.
What this Psalmist begged for,
God did through Christ and through His Spirit.
I think this is a wonderful way to understand sanctification.
This Psalmist begged for God to manually do this in his life.
And that is precisely what the Spirit of God is doing.
• He is building God’s word in your heart.
• He is covering your eyes from the things of the world.
• He is turning your head away from worthless things.
• He is spurring you down the right path.
That is a glorious reality!
What the Psalmist craved, we are now experiencing.
God has done and is doing in us
What this Psalmist only dreamed of.
He wanted to be revived.
He wanted to live for God.
And we now can do that through Christ.
We’re actually going to study this passage next week at Disciple Now,
But listen to what Paul says.
Galatians 2:19-20 “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
• Through Christ we now can live to God.
• Through Christ we now have been taught a holy reverence.
• Through Christ we now can obey with all our heart.
And in Christ we will obey to the end.
• How glorious it is to be those who have received this New Covenant.
• How wonderful to no longer be like the Psalmist begging to be made obedient, but now to be in Christ and to see Him doing that in our lives.
Praise the Lord!
