The Necessity of God’s Word

Psalms 119:33-40

September 11, 2011

 

Tonight we continue our study of the 119th Psalm.

And we have thus far learned a tremendous amount

About the sufficiency of God’s Word.

 

• It is sufficient to bless a life.

• It is sufficient to bring purity in a life.

• It is sufficient to remove hypocrisy.

• It is sufficient even when you don’t think it is.

 

Tonight we not only learn about the sufficiency of God’s word,

But we also learn about the necessity of it.

 

We live in a day where the word of God

Is becoming more and more de-valued.

 

It seems that everywhere you look churches and denominations

Are focusing on something other than God’s word as what they need.

 

In today’s world people are taught to follow their experiences,

Their emotions, even the “signs” around them.

 

It is bothersome because I hear a lot from people today

About wanting to hear from God, or about wanting to know God’s will.

 

And most of the time people are employing all sorts of methods,

And very few have anything to do with actual study of God’s word.

 

I remember the youth at Crawford wanted to participate in Lent.

(Their reasoning was to draw closer to God)

 

Carrie had a conversation this week with a woman confused because her church told her to fast and she didn’t even know what it was.

 

But does abstaining from food actually better enable you to encounter God?

 

Colossians 2:23 “These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

 

Galatians 3:1-3 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

 

I’ve told you before fasting is a natural fruit of a life seeking God,

Not a means to make God move faster.

The point is that there is a definite way to draw near to God

And to learn His will and to have Him permeate your life.

 

• But it is not through gimmicks…

• It is not through programs…

• It is not through self-abasement…

• It is not through works of the flesh…

 

The means to growing closer to God has always been the same,

And that is through His word.

 

Thank God for the 119th Psalm to reinforce that truth.

It is not a Psalm that focuses on the importance of experiences…

It is not a Psalm that focuses on the importance of self-abasement…

It is not a Psalm that focuses on the importance of programs…

It is not a Psalm that focuses on the importance of spirituality…

 

It is a Psalm that for 176 verses

Focuses solely on the importance of the word of God.

 

It reminds us that not only is God’s word sufficient,

But that it is also necessary.

 

You can’t grow spiritually without it!

 

Of all the different mediums and ways that presume God is leading us,

There is only one way that we can always say with certain,

“I know God said this…”

 

That medium is His word.

 

And as I have told you many times before everything else we think, or see, or hear, may in fact be from God, but it must be tested by His word.

 

2 Corinthians 10:5 “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

 

And the point is that without the Scripture,

There is no possible way for a person to grow spiritually.

 

It is a guide…

It is reliable…

It is a standard by which we test everything else…

We need the word of God to become the person God wants us to be.

 

And consider the power of God’s word.

 

It can convict you.

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.”

 

It can save you.

James 1:21 “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”

 

It can grow you.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

 

2 Peter 2:1-2 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;”

 

It can encourage you

Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

 

God’s word is absolutely essential to Christian life.

 

And tonight we see that it is God’s word

Which creates a heart of faithfulness.

 

Experiences come and go…

Emotions come and go…

Commitments even come and go…

(They are really quite momentary)

But the word of God has the ability to change us like nothing else.

 

And you will see that in our Psalmist tonight.

 

There are 6 points tonight

#1 HIS DESIRE

Psalms 119:33-35

 

When you read those verses it is not hard to see

The simple desire of this man.

 

• He wants to learn God’s word and keep it to the end.

• He wants to understand God’s word and keep it with all his heart.

• He wants to obey God’s commands without fail.

 

And so it is also not hard to understand our Psalmists circumstance.

This stanza comes from a heart that seeks to be more dedicated to God.

 

It is written from a hungry heart.

 

He wants to be totally obedient all the time.

 

And I think there are a great number of you in here tonight

Who can identify with that sentiment.

 

And indeed we ought to identify.

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

 

And how many times have read that 7th chapter of Romans

And identified with Paul as he grieved over sin he committed.

His spirit was willing but his flesh was weak.

 

He craved for righteousness.

And we can identify with that.

 

This man desires to be righteous.

He desires to obey God with all his heart and to never stop doing it.

 

But there is a problem.

#2 HIS DEPENDENCE

Psalms 119:33-35

 

This is the other thing that is unmistakable in the first three verses.

That while he longs for perfection, he cannot achieve it on his own.

 

Notice his dependence.

 

He would like to “observe” God’s statutes “to the end”, but he can’t

Unless God teaches him.

 

He would like to “observe” God’s law “with all my heart”, but he can’t

Unless God gives him “understanding”

 

He would like to “walk in the path” of God’s commandments, but he can’t

Unless God makes him.

 

Perfection is out of his reach, unless God comes to his aid.

 

He is dependant upon God to

Educate, Explain, and Enforce His word.

 

And I think we can identify here as well.

 

It is absolutely impossible for you or I to learn God’s word on our own.

We clearly know that a natural man can’t learn it.

 

1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

And this is not an isolated thought.

 

Consider the apostles.

They could not learn the truth on their own,

But it was God who taught them.

 

John 14:25-26 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

 

Even before Jesus left, notice what occurred.

Luke 24:44-45 “Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,”

 

They couldn’t get it unless Christ gave it to them.

 

And that is true for us as well.

 

The Bible is no ordinary book.

It contains spiritual words.

 

Could you read a book written in German?

Could you read a book written in Spanish?

You probably could read the words, but could you understand it?

No.

 

And with the Bible we’re talking about a language too lofty for all mankind

 

The Bible is God speaking.

You can read it, but apart from God you can’t understand it.

 

Listen to what Paul said about Scripture.

1 Corinthians 2:11-13 “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”

 

Scripture comes from the depth of the mind of God.

Only the Spirit of God can interpret it.

(I can’t express how long sermons took me this week)

 

2 Peter 1:20-21 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

 

And so we understand where our Psalmist is coming from.

 

He has a desire to be perfectly obedient to the word of God,

But he knows that is impossible

Apart from God’s Education, Explanation, and Enforcing of His word.

 

So he is a man with a desire, but also a man in extreme dependence.

 

But that is not all we learn about him.

 

Let me show you another very important fact

To help us understand his circumstance.

#3 HIS DILEMMA

Psalms 119:36-37

 

Now all of a sudden we see why our Psalmist

Wants so badly to be given the word of God.

 

Because apparently his focus has been off.

In his life, in his flesh, he has a propensity to desire the wrong things.

 

WHAT DOES HE DESIRE?

“dishonest gain”

 

In fact in verse 37 he says, “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity,”

That could certainly include monetary gain.

 

And all of a sudden we understand where our Psalmist is coming from.

He is a man who hasn’t been as dedicated as he would like.

He is a man who has been too allured by the things of the world.

 

And now he wants God to change his heart back to His word.

“Incline my heart to Your testimonies”

 

He wants God to help him get his focus back on the right things.

 

Our Psalmist reminds me quite a bit of another man in Scripture

 

TURN TO: ECCLESIASTES 2

Solomon certainly learned of the “vanity” of life.

 

And by the end of the book, do you remember Solomon’s advice?

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

 

His conclusion was to “fear God and keep His commandments”

 

He had learned through a life of seeking the wrong thing,

That he must now seek the right thing.

 

That right thing is God, who alone can enlighten His word to you.

We find our Psalmist in a similar dilemma.

His life isn’t what he wants it to be

So he is seeking God to give him his word.

 

Now that poses a good question for us.

 

• Here our Psalmist has found himself in a dilemma.

• He has a propensity to seek the wrong things.

• And his response to walking the wrong direction is that he wants God to explain His word to him.

 

WHY SEEK THE WORD HERE?

Why not seek a vision?

Why not seek an experience?

Why not seek a sign?

 

#4 HIS DISCERNMENT

Psalms 119:38

 

Here is the key verse of the stanza.

Furthermore it explains why when his life is out of sorts

Why he wants God’s word.

 

“Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.”

 

WHAT DOES GOD’S WORD PRODUCE?

Reverence for God.

Fear of God.

 

And I find this to be such a foundational passage

To the way in which we live.

 

Think of all the things he could have substituted there for God’s word.

“Give me a vision, to produce reverence…”

“Give me an experience to produce reverence…”

 

But none of those things produce genuine reverence.

God’s word produces reverence for God.

 

Listen to what God told Moses.

 

In regard to the King.

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.”

In regard to the feasts

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.”

 

Moses knew that nothing produced reverence for God

Like the reading of God’s word.

 

• This is also why Ezra read the whole Law to the people.

• This is why Paul commanded Timothy to “give attention to the public reading of Scripture”

• This is why we read and preach Scripture.

 

NOTHING PRODUCES REVERENCE FOR GOD LIKE HIS WORD

 

And the Psalmist knows it too.

“Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.”

 

And now it all begins to make sense.

 

• Here is a man who recognizes his heart desires the wrong things.

• But he wants that to change.

• And in order to help him change he asks God to teach him His word,

• Because he knows that God’s word will change his heart.

 

ISN’T THAT BEAUTIFUL!

And certainly we understand that.

 

How many times have we had God’s word literally grip us and change us into the person God desires us to be?

 

The Psalmist knows that he will never be right without the word of God.

 

His Desire, His Dependence, His Dilemma, His Discernment

#5 HIS DREAD

Psalms 119:39

 

Now this is an interesting verse, but one that is very honest.

 

The Psalmist knows that learning and adhering to God’s word

Is the only thing that will effectively change his life.

 

But there is a problem with that.

With obedience comes reproach.

And he dreads being reproached.

 

“Turn away my reproach which I dread,”

 

And this may have actually played a role

In his going the wrong direction in the past.

 

But now he wants to have and obey God’s word,

He just dreads the reproach that so often comes with it.

 

So his request is that God turn that reproach away.

 

And his request is based on a fact.

“For Your ordinances are good.”

 

In other words, there is no reason for this world

To reproach those who obey Your word, because Your word is right.

 

There is no basis for their mocking and attacks,

Because Your word is good.

 

So what we are hearing here is very clear.

• It is a man who wants righteousness,

• Who knows it only comes through God’s word,

• But he dreads the reproach that so often comes with it,

• He is asking God to take it away.

 

We call that a cross roads.

It is decision time in his life.

 

He has to choose either to obey God or to yield to the skeptics.

He has to choose if he will fear men or fear God.

 

And this is no small decision for him, for he dreads what is coming.

 

WHAT DOES HE CHOOSE?

# 6 HIS DECISION

Psalms 119:40

 

“Behold, I long for Your precepts;”

 

WHY?

Because of the righteousness that comes with them.

 

“Revive me through Your righteousness”

 

My choice God, in spite of my dread of reproach, is that I want Your word anyway, for it is the only thing that can make me righteous.

Now here is the point.

It is clear that our Psalmist dreaded the reproach

That comes with obedience to the word of God.

SO WHY DID HE CLING TO GOD’S WORD?

 

Because that was the only way

To obtain the reverence and righteousness that he wanted.

 

This is like Jesus in the garden praying, “Let this cup pass from Me…Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

 

That is to say if there is any other way, let’s do it.

But there was no other way.

 

I realize that Bible study isn’t the easiest practice in the world.

I realize that Bible study takes work.

I realize that Bible study takes time.

I know it can be frustrating

(especially since we are dependent upon God even to understand it)

 

I realize it takes discipline.

I realize it takes commitment.

 

BUT YOU AND I STILL MUST DO IT, BECAUSE IT IS THE ONY WAY.

 

God’s word isn’t just sufficient of life, It is necessary for life.

You have to have it.

 

I remember a conversation I had with a man several years ago.

• Confused theologically

• Wanted closer to God

• Wanted to know how to do it.

I told him, “You can’t obtain spiritual growth through a drive through window. There is no substitution for you studying the Bible.”

 

And that is what is so badly missing in so many lives.

• People want the quick version.

• I want holiness through a drive through window.

• They want spiritual maturity in a 40 day study.

• They want depth of understanding in a 30 minute sermon.

 

They want the end result without the dedication.

 

But that is not possible.

• This man wanted reverence and so he cried out for the word of God.

• He knew it would bring reproach, but he asked for it anyway.

• And all he asked of God is that God teach him, help him understand, and enforce his word to him.

And if God would do that, he said

“I shall observe it to the end…And keep it with all my heart.”

 

There was no substitute for God’s word in his life.

 

• There is a “knock-off” brand for everything in this life.

• There are generic versions of just about everything you need.

• There is generally even a “soy” imitation of what you want.

 

BUT THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR GOD’S WORD

If you and I desire holiness and freedom from our apathy,

We must dive into the word of God.

 

Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

 

Handling Hypocrisy

Psalms 119:25-32

September 4, 2011

 

As you know we are working our way through the 119th Psalm,

And as we do, we not only get a new appreciation for the word of God,

But we also learn something of it’s sufficiency.

 

• We have seen that God’s word is sufficient to bring about blessing in a life.

• We have seen that God’s word is sufficient to produce purity in a life.

• We have seen that God’s word is sufficient even when you aren’t getting the specific answers you desire.

 

Tonight we will learn that God’s word is sufficient to revive us.

 

Verse 25 is often quoted anytime a church

Schedules a revival meeting for the congregation.

 

“Revive me according to Your word”

 

Revival is for the redeemed to be re-vived.

(not necessarily an evangelistic event)

 

And the insinuation is that those are God’s people

Have cooled off, or backslidden, or have grown apathetic

And need to be confronted, and convicted back into a dedication

 

That is the purpose of revival.

 

What I hope to show you tonight is that revival is always at your disposal,

Even if your church isn’t planning one in the near future.

You can have revival any time, for God’s word is sufficient to produce it.

 

The power behind revival has never been the preacher or the song leader,

But has always been the word of God.

SO IF YOU HAVE THE WORD, YOU HAVE ENOUGH.

 

The fact of the matter is that even believers stumble and struggle

And need to be revived at times.

 

Even believers can go through moments in life

In which they don’t look or act or talk like true believers.

 

Even believers have moments when they display hypocrisy.

 

Now I know that is a harsh word.

 

Hypocrite is a word often used in the New Testament.

John used it on Jerusalem, Jesus used it on the Pharisees.

 

In the New Testament it comes from the Greek word HUPOCRITES,

Which was the name for a Greek “actor”.

It referred to someone who wore a mask, someone who played a role.

 

Jesus often called the Pharisees

“actors” or “pretenders” or “role players”.

 

They were not real, they were phony.

Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”

 

The word “hypocrisy” appears significantly less in the Old Testament.

Daniel 11:34 “Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy.”

 

There the Hebrew word literally mans “smoothness”

And it is a word used other places to refer to the anti-Christ.

 

Daniel 11:21 “In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.”

 

But you get the picture.

It is someone who deceives, who lives inconsistent with their heart.

It is someone who puts on a show, and someone who is very good at it.

 

Now the hypocrisy of the wicked and the hypocrisy of the redeemed look completely different.

 

A lost man displays hypocrisy any time he acts like he loves God.

(This is what the Pharisees did)

 

A believer, however, demonstrates hypocrisy

Any time he acts contrary to the word of God.

 

You see a believer’s heart has been redeemed.

He has been made righteous. He has been given a love for God.

So for him hypocrisy is to live or act contrary to God’s truth.

 

So a lost man is a hypocrite when he acts like he is saved.

A saved man is a hypocrite when he acts like he is lost.

 

And while none of us wants to be a full-blown hypocrite,

I think we can all agree there have been times

When we have all show hypocrisy.

 

Let me tell you about a man named Peter.

 

Galatians 2:11-13 “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.”

 

There Peter actually displayed a form of hypocrisy,

And I think we can identify.

 

In fact, I like to call this stanza of Psalm 119 “Peter’s Stanza”,

Because I think it properly mirrors how Peter must have felt

At various times in his life.

 

I’m certainly not critiquing Peter, he was a great apostle, but even Peter would admit he had moments of inconsistency in his life.

 

• Certainly one we just read about.

 

• But how about the day when he confessed that Jesus was the Christ, and then in his next breath tried to talk Him out of going to the cross?

 

• Or how about the day when he was bold enough to walk on water, but to frightened to stay afloat?

 

• Of course Peter will always be tagged for the night he promised to die with Jesus, only to deny Him three times before sunrise.

 

But of all those incidents in Peter’s life,

Scripture only gives Peter’s response to one of them.

 

Luke 22:60-62 “But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.”

 

Did Peter have a good heart?

Yes

Was Peter redeemed?

Yes

Did Peter always act like it?

No

 

And I think we can all identify with that.

Furthermore we should also be able to identify with Peter’s response.

 

“He…wept bitterly”

 

And please understand, that Peter didn’t weep

Because of the consequences he received.

(That was like the man in the first 8 verses,

Who was broken because of his sin and now lived in shame)

 

Peter wept because he would have rather died

Than to have this awful feeling in his stomach.

Peter walked in hypocrisy and it broke his heart.

And that leads us to our Psalmist tonight.

 

As we have done, tonight, let me show you the circumstances our Psalmist is in.

 

#1 HIS CIRCUMSTANCE

Psalms 119:25

 

After reading that first verse

It really isn’t hard to tell where our Psalmist currently dwells.

 

“My soul cleaves to the dust”

 

You’ve seen that word “cleaves” before.

Genesis 2:24 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

 

You probably learned it “and cleave unto his wife”.

 

This man is literally married to the dust.

He didn’t just fall, he is broken.

He is on the ground, and he can’t seem to pick himself up.

 

And of course what he longs for is revival.

“Revive me according to Your word”

 

He is broken and he longs to be restored to a proper biblical state.

 

Now that isn’t the only place we see his circumstance.

 

(28) “My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word.”

Not only is his soul cleaving to the dust,

But his soul is also heavily grieved and weeps.

 

Even the fact that he prays for strength

Indicates that he has none in and of himself.

 

This man is totally and completely broken.

 

(32) “I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart.”

 

Obviously there he has a plan with the consequence being

That God will enlarge his heart.

 

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Psalms 118:5 “From my distress I called upon the LORD; The LORD answered me and set me in a large place.”

• This man feels trapped in.

• This man is getting spiritual claustrophobia.

• His world is pressing in on him.

 

The NIV actually translates his request as “set my heart free”.

 

This man is carrying a massive burden,

And it has him broken without strength, and cleaving to the dust.

 

SO WHAT IS HIS BURDEN?

WHAT IS IT THAT HAS HIM ENCLOSED?

 

Well, he doesn’t state specifically what he did,

But by his requests we can tell.

 

(29) “Remove the false way from me”

 

There is something about himself that he does not like.

He has been prone to walk in “the false way”

 

Literally translated “the lying way”

 

In other words this man played the hypocrite.

 

Just like Peter hypocritically denying the Lord and then weeping bitterly,

That is where this man is.

 

He walked in hypocrisy and the weight of the guilt

Is more than he can bear.

 

Like Peter, he isn’t necessarily under certain consequences,

He just hates himself for what he has become.

 

I think most of us can identify with that feeling.

• It is the feeling we get when we don’t do what the Lord requires.

• It is the feeling we get when we feel as though we let God down.

• It is the feeling we get when we don’t live as a Christian should.

 

And even if we seem to get away with it at the moment,

The inner turmoil of it is bad enough

That we almost would have rather gotten caught.

 

So we have here a man who walked in hypocrisy; that is his circumstance.

 

Let’s move on.

#2 HIS CONFESSION

Psalms 119:26

 

Now this is actually a very important step to this Psalm.

 

I don’t want to minimize the total sufficiency of the word of God,

But you understand that God’s word is not all you need at this moment.

 

A person also needs repentance.

And this man does that.

 

“I have told of my ways”

 

And notice the response.

“and You have answered me.”

 

That is forgiveness.

 

Psalms 32:3-5 “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin.”

 

When we sin against Him, especially with hypocrisy,

It is vitally important that we confess that to Him.

 

There must be repentance,

Because it is repentance that moves God to forgiveness,

And apart from forgiveness we will never get out of the dust.

 

So don’t miss the importance of his confession here to God.

 

If you have walked in hypocrisy,

You must confess that to God and ask for His forgiveness.

 

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

This Psalmist did that.

“I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; Teach me Your statutes.”

 

And not only did his mouth confess, but his heart repented,

And now he wants to learn the commands of God.

 

His Circumstance, His Confession

#3 HIS CRY

Psalms 119:27-29

 

I suppose we could really throw the end of verse 26 in here as well

When he asked “Teach me Your statutes”,

For it flows in line with what he asks for in these verses.

 

And let’s break his cry down a little bit.

You can really see four things he asks for.

(Good requests for a recovering hypocrite)

 

1) ENLIGHTEN ME (27)

 

I like how he says, “Make me understand”.

He almost paints himself as a hard-headed pupil.

 

Don’t stop on me until I get it.

(I can identify with that)

 

“Make me understand the way of Your precepts”

 

What do precepts speak of? – “treasure”

 

So his request is that God will make him

Understand the value and the treasure of His word.

 

His prayer is that God will open his eyes to see how valuable His truth is.

 

WHY DOES HE WANT TO SEE THAT?

“So I will meditate on Your wonders”

 

The point is, that he had lost his excitement about the word of God.

The “new” had worn off to him.

He had gotten to a place where he was no longer captivated by God’s word.

 

(Hint: Losing our excitement about God’s word is the first step to hypocrisy)

 

But he doesn’t just say, “I’m gonna get excited about Your word.”

He knows his weakness.

 

He asks God to help him see why His word is so great

So that it will be easy to be captivated by it.

 

This, by the way, is why I preach.

And this verse is my goal for you as we study this Psalm.

 

I want to make you understand the infinite value of God’s word

So that you will be captivated and will meditate on God’s wonders as well.

 

But this guy wants to turn his life around and he asks God to help him.

 

Enlighten me

2) STRENGTHEN ME (28)

 

We already saw that he was broken and without strength.

 

The problem is that his weakness makes it virtually impossible

For him to pull himself out of this spiral.

Was Peter strong enough to confess Christ upon pain of death?

No, not on his own.

 

If Peter was going to stand, Christ would have to make him stand.

The Psalmist has learned that as well.

 

He is praying that God will make him strong so that he doesn’t fall again.

This too is a good idea.

 

3) PURIFY ME (29a)

 

“Remove the false way from me”

• Please take away my hypocritical heart.

• Please help me not to be an actor.

• Please help me not to be a pretender.

 

We read it earlier, but I love the verse.

1 John 1:9“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

Obviously I love the forgiveness part,

But I also love the promise that He will cleanse us.

 

I don’t just want to be forgiven, I want to be changed.

As believers we aren’t looking for a means to sin,

We are looking for freedom from it.

 

Remember David’s great penitent Psalm?

Psalms 51:1-3 “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.”

 

He didn’t just want his sin forgiven, he wanted it removed.

And this, by the way, is at the heart of atonement.

 

Remember the day of atonement?

Two goats, one to sacrifice, and one to send away.

 

It signified, sin atoned for, and carried away.

Christ also did this.

 

“Living He loved me, dying He saved me, Buried He carried my sins far away, rising He justified, freely forever, one day He’s coming, O glorious day!”

 

And that is precisely what that Psalmist wants.

Forgive me, but don’t stop there, purify me as well.

 

Enlighten me, Strengthen me, Purify me

4) BLESS ME (29b)

“And graciously grant me Your law.”

 

When I look this verse up in my interlinear bible

(which gives the actual order of words)

They translate this verse, “with Your law favor me”

 

In other words, it is not only gracious for God to give His word,

But God’s law is also the means by which he shows you favor.

 

There is no greater blessing God can bestow upon us,

Than to reveal Himself to us, and this He does through His perfect word.

 

This is what the Psalmist wants.

 

I’ve been a hypocrite and I’m sorry.

• Now, please remind me why your word is great,

• Strengthen me not to do this again,

• Purify me of the wickedness that would do this in the first place,

• And bless me with Your word one more time.

 

That is a repentant prayer of a recovering hypocrite.

 

If you or I have walked in hypocrisy,

This is certainly how we approach God’s throne of grace.

 

His Circumstance, His Confession, His Cry

#4 HIS COMMITMENT

Psalms 119:30-32

 

All three of these verses speak of his new commitment.

 

But this is important.

It is not just a commitment not to be a hypocrite again.

 

Certainly that is part of it.

 

But many a man has told God, “I’ll never do that again”

Only to fall right back into the sin.

 

See, we need more than a commitment not to sin,

We need help not to sin.

 

WHERE DO WE GET THAT HELP?

From God’s word.

 

So this man doesn’t just commit not to be a hypocrite,

He commits to God’s word, which will help him not to be a hypocrite.

 

1) HIS CHOICE (30)

See, he made a choice to walk in “the faithful way”.

Your Bible may call it “the way of truth”

 

At any rate, he has chosen to quit being a hypocrite.

But just a decision alone is not enough.

 

So he does something to cement his decision.

“I have placed Your ordinances before me.”

 

He genuinely wants to walk in the way of truth,

So he puts God’s word before his eyes.

 

Tired of being a hypocrite?

Tired of living a double life?

Then the first step is to get into God’s word.

 

That was this man’s choice.

2) HIS FAITH (31)

 

I just love reading the truthfulness of the Psalms.

I can identify with their fears.

 

WHAT IS THIS MAN AFRAID OF?

That God will lead him to shame.

 

That is why he prays, “O LORD, do not put me to shame.”

 

Why would he be worried about shame?

Because he is clinging to God’s testimonies.

 

Now we have also talked about “testimonies” before.

This refers to the recordings of God’s faithful acts in the past.

 

And by the way, trusting in them requires faith.

And with faith often comes fear.

 

“God, if I do this, and You don’t come through, I’m gonna look like an idiot”

That is how this man feels.

 

He knows that he wants to cling to God’s “testimonies”

But he also knows that God will have to come through.

 

You see, he has chosen to walk by faith.

 

And this indicates the strength of his commitment.

Many times I am committed until I am forced to trust God alone,

And then I retreat to what seems to be safer waters.

 

That is hypocrisy.

It is to claim a trust in God, but to bail when the waves crash.

This man already did that, and he doesn’t want to do that again.

So he is going to cling to God’s word

And pray that God doesn’t let him look like an idiot.

 

His Choice, His Faith

3) HIS EAGERNESS (32)

 

I can’t help but here seeing Peter running

And taking that head-first dive into the empty tomb of Jesus.

 

This man is running to God.

 

WHY?

“For You will enlarge my heart”

You will set my heart free.

 

This man has been oppressed and the walls closed in on him.

Next time he is running to God’s word

Because he doesn’t ever want to feel this way again.

 

I can’t help but wonder if it was the remember pain of his previous denial

That gave Peter the strength to stand while being martyred for the Lord.

 

Martyrdom was bad, but he had already felt the guilt of hypocrisy

And he didn’t want to feel that again.

 

• This time he saw the green pastures…

• This time he saw the still waters…

• This time he saw the wide open spaces…

They were found by obeying God and so he was eager to do it.

 

And there you have the steps to climb out of hypocrisy.

• Confess it before God

• Cry out for God’s help to defeat it

• Commit to God’s word

• Choose to read it

• Cling to it even when faith is required

• Run to it like a glass of water in the middle of the desert

 

You see God’s word not only protects from hypocrisy,

But it is also sufficient to pull a life out of hypocrisy.

 

So if you have found yourself grieved to the soul,

Then confess it to God, cry out to Him, and commit yourself to His word.

 

It will protect you and it will guide you

To help you never play the hypocrite again.

 

Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

 

Dealing with Distress

Psalms 119:17-24

August 21, 2011

 

Studying now through this wonderful 119th Psalm,

We are beginning to learn the tremendous sufficiency of the word of God.

 

• In the first stanza we saw that God’s word is sufficient to bring about blessing in a life.

 

• In the second stanza we saw that God’s word is sufficient to produce a life of purity.

 

Tonight we still learn about the sufficiency of Scripture,

But in a much broader sense.

 

Tonight we see that Scripture is sufficient,

Even when it is all you have.

 

In other words, even during the low points in life,

There is a sufficiency to Scripture that if you simply have it, it is enough.

 

And to illustrate that, our Psalmist takes us to a day

When he was dealing with distress.

 

Lets just jump right into this stanza tonight, there are five things I want you to see.

#1 HIS CIRCUMSTANCE

Psalms 119:19-23

 

I’ve told you since the beginning that one of the things that makes this Psalm so wonderful to study is that not only does it give great insight to the value of God’s word, but that it also shows us how God’s word fits in a variety of circumstances.

 

We’ve even said that it is tremendously helpful

To find the specific circumstance behind each stanza.

 

When you read tonight’s stanza

It becomes evident that our Psalmist is in distress.

 

Let me show you what I mean.

 

Look at the first part of verse 19.

“I am a stranger on the earth”

 

Now look at verse 20.

“My soul is crushed with longing after Your ordinances at all times.”

 

There is a similarity with both of those statements.

They both speak of a man who is separated from someone.

In verse 19, he is separated from all men.

In verse 20, he feels separated from God.

 

In short he feels REJECTED.

He is caught in a difficult place.

 

He doesn’t seem to fit in in this world,

And yet he doesn’t seem to be getting all that he desires

Out of a relationship with God either.

 

Statements like, “My soul is crushed” do not indicate a man

Who is walking in the fullness of satisfaction.

 

There is an obvious distress in his life.

 

So on one hand there is a feeling of REJECTION in his life.

 

There is more.

 

Look at the first part of verse 22.

“Take away reproach and contempt from me”

 

Look at the first part of verse 23.

“Even though princes sit and talk against me.”

 

There we learn that not only is this man rejected,

But he is also under REPROACH.

 

• He is not a popular man.

• He is not a man that people speak well of.

• He is an outcast and people scorn him.

 

Now you are probably recognizing a similar attitude to the man from the first stanza of our Psalm, but this man is quite different.

 

That first stanza dealt with a man whose hardship was his own doing.

He disobeyed, and that is what left him in despair.

 

This man has no indication of disobedience.

 

Rather, he is just walking in a spot of rejection by the world (possibly even because of his righteousness)

But he is also failing to get the answers from God that he wants.

 

He is just walking in a tough spot.

 

Maybe you have been there.

 

Certainly Jesus promised His followers would be there from time to time.

 

John 16:2 “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.”

 

Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

 

And the apostles who heard those statements obviously learned them,

For they passed them on to others.

 

1 John 3:13-14 “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”

 

1 Peter 4:12 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;”

 

The reality is that in a Christian life we will certainly

Walk through times of being rejected by the world.

 

We certainly are strangers and aliens in a foreign land,

For our citizenship is in heaven,

But there are times when we feel that separation more than others.

 

The dilemma is that often times when those hardships arise,

God isn’t instantly speaking.

 

You can certainly see evidence of this in the life of Jeremiah, or even Job.

Both of those men were righteous, suffered,

And yet still didn’t seem to be getting all that they wanted from God.

 

Perhaps the best example of a righteous man

Being rejected and reviled is Jesus.

 

Rejected:

Matthew 27:46 “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

 

Reviled:

1 Peter 2:21-23 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”

 

Jesus walked through His darkest moment, His greatest distress

And yet felt not only rejected by men, but also abandoned by God.

 

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THERE?

 

You walk through distress in which the world rejects you,

But turning to God doesn’t quickly produce any answers either?

You find your soul crushed with longing, but there is no quick relief.

 

No doubt those moments come in our lives.

This stanza shows us how to deal with those moments.

 

First, His Circumstance.

#2 HIS CRY

Psalms 119:17-19

 

It is certainly not uncommon to cry out to God from the midst of distress.

 

And if you have ever been in a situation when you feel all alone and people are talking about you, then certainly you cried out to God.

 

This man had three requests as he cried out to God.

 

1) FINISH ME (17)

“Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word.”

 

“Deal bountifully” translates GAMAL

And it means “to deal fully or adequately with”

It can refer to “weaning” a child or fruit that is “ripened”

 

And so “deal bountifully” seems a little perplexing.

 

The Psalmist is not here asking for God to fill his cup,

Or to bless him financially, or something like that.

 

The Psalmist is asking for God to finish the work

He is doing through this distress.

 

He wants God to deal fully with him.

He wants God to complete the work.

 

He seems to be very aware that while trials are not pleasant

That God is using this trial to mold and shape him spiritually.

His request is that God will finish it.

 

“Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word.”

And I love that statement.

 

Remember what James said about boasting?

James 4:13-15 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

 

James spoke of an arrogant man who thought he had it all under control.

The Psalmist is not walking in any such arrogance.

He realizes that until God finishes His work, he is at the mercy of God.

He isn’t going anywhere until God finishes this work.

 

His first request is for God to finish.

 

2) ENCOURAGE ME (18)

“Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.”

 

Here we find a man who is scouring the pages of Scripture

In search of something “wonderful”,

But who has thus far been prevented from seeing it.

 

This is a man who is looking for answers.

This is a man who wants to have the situation explained to him.

 

“Wonderful” is an interesting word.

 

One of the first times we find it used is in the book of Judges.

 

When Manoah and his wife

Want to know the name of the angel who spoke to them.

 

Judges 13:18 “But the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”

 

In other words, it is too lofty for you.

 

Job used it as well.

Job 42:3 “Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

 

Job used it as stuff he knew nothing about.

 

And that is where our Psalmist is.

• He knows God has a purpose.

• He knows God is at work.

• He knows God knows exactly what is going on.

 

He would just like God to clue him in a little.

He would like to see some of those “wonderful” things.

 

He would like to be encouraged a little

By being allowed to see what God is up to.

 

If you’ve ever been in distress, you’ve been there too.

Just crying out for God to give you just a little insight to encourage you.

 

3) ENLIGHTEN ME (19)

“I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.”

Here it is similar to the last one, but a little different.

 

In that here he is not necessarily asking for insight into what is going on, here he would just like for God to tell him what to do.

 

“commandments” is a word that

Speaks of something specifically ordained.

 

Examples would be

• God’s command to Adam not to eat from the tree.

• God’s command to Noah to build the ark.

 

The psalmist wants one of those.

Just tell me specifically what to do.

 

But thus far he has gotten nothing.

He doesn’t know what God is doing, and he doesn’t know what to do.

 

He is just stuck in distress, crying out for God to do something.

Finish me

Encourage me

Enlighten me

Do something.

 

He is in distress, and you can feel his pain.

 

His Circumstance, His Cry

#3 HIS CRISIS

Psalms 119:20

 

We already talked about this a little,

But in light of his cry, it makes this situation a little more severe.

 

He is crying out to God, wanting to see something encouraging,

Wanting a simple command of what to do.

But he has yet to receive it.

 

This statement is not a statement of one who is satisfied.

This is a statement of one who has yet to get what he wants.

 

“My soul is crushed with longing after Your ordinances at all times.”

 

And you can just feel his desperation.

 

He is consumed with getting an answer from God

And the weight of God’s silence is seemingly more than he can bear.

 

His “soul is crushed”

That is a crisis.

 

Things are rough, and you can’t seem to get an answer from God at all.

Furthermore the weight of God’s silence has you broken.

 

His Circumstance, His Cry, His Crisis

#4 HIS CONFUSION

Psalms 119:21-22

 

And at this point our heart just really goes out to the guy.

 

He understands that God is right to cause some people to suffer.

 

(21) “You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments.”

 

The Psalmist understands that there are those “arrogant” people

Who are in reality “cursed”

Because they are under the rebuke of God.

 

He understands why they are rejected.

He understands why they suffer.

 

What our Psalmist is having difficulty with is

Why he personally is suffering,

Since to the best of his knowledge, he has obeyed God.

 

(22) “Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies.”

 

Can’t you just hear his confusion here.

“God I understand why You rebuke the wicked, but why are You rebuking me?”

 

He is not the first to feel this way.

Turn To: Job 31

 

It would be one thing if I had turned away from your word,

Then I would understand this silent treatment I am getting.

 

“But God, I have tried to do all that You said,

And so I am confused as to why you won’t answer me.”

 

So look at where this man is.

• He is a stranger on earth, and people are talking about him.

• He has been crying out to God for answers and solutions, but thus far God hasn’t granted him an answer.

• And God’s silence almost makes it feel like even God is against him, and if that is so, he can’t figure out why, for he has walked in obedience up this point.

We call this a life of distress

 

And it is a place that even believers sometimes walk.

 

Job did

 

Maybe you remember John the Baptist getting there when he asked Jesus, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”

 

Even Jesus did.

 

And we find this sentiment all throughout the Psalms.

Psalms 13:1-4 “How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.”

 

Psalms 69:16-21 “Answer me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me, And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in distress; answer me quickly. Oh draw near to my soul and redeem it; Ransom me because of my enemies! You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; All my adversaries are before You. Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, And for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

 

Psalms 88:14 “O LORD, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?”

 

Psalms 89:46-47 “How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire? Remember what my span of life is; For what vanity You have created all the sons of men!”

 

We see that sentiment from God’s people frequently.

And maybe you have been there too.

 

You don’t know of any sin, yet you are hated by men,

And when you try to take it to God, you still don’t find any satisfaction.

 

WHAT DO YOU DO?

 

Well, that is where we learn a great example from our Psalmist.

 

#5 HIS COMMITMENT

Psalms 119:23-24

 

I like the “Even though” here.

 

Here the Psalmist says, it is bad, and it may stay bad,

But I am not rejecting Your word.

“Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes.”

 

They may be talking, and I may not be getting any new answers.

But in the meantime, I have decided just to meditate on Your statutes.

 

As I told you last week, “statutes” refers to

Something engraved with an iron stylus.

These are the “Thou shalt nots” of Scripture.

 

When the Psalmist can get nothing new or refreshing or “relevant” He simply determines to continue to feast

On the simple revealed commands of God.

 

He is committed.

 

(24) “Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.”

 

And this statement is especially beautiful.

 

“Your testimonies also are my delight”

 

“testimonies” are the examples of times

God has come through in the past.

 

It is like when you are in distress so you read the book of Job

To see that it all turned out well in the end.

 

Or it is like when you read that familiar passage from Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

 

Or that familiar passage from Romans.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

 

Those are testimonies that God is faithful.

 

And here the Psalmist says, “I may not know what God is doing,

And I may not be getting a clear answer as to what to do next,

So I will just keep reading how God has always been faithful in the past

And I will let that counsel me.”

 

That is tremendous commitment.

That is faith without sight.

And it is a great example for you and me.

 

Maybe God hasn’t explained the situation to you,

And maybe you don’t have a roadmap for what to do next.

Well don’t get mad at God and abandon His word altogether.

 

Instead, meditate on His commands so that you stay obedient,

And take joy in all the testimonies of Scripture

That God has never failed His people yet.

 

• Read Daniel’s testimony about how God delivered him from the lions.

• Read David’s testimony about how God delivered him from the giant.

• Read Job’s testimony about how God delivered him out of despair.

• Read the disciples testimony about how Jesus rescued them from the raging sea.

 

Let God’s faithfulness (as revealed throughout Scripture)

Counsel you on how to walk.

 

Continue trusting God and continue going to His word.

 

That is what the Psalmist did.

 

And with that we learn a great deal

About the sufficiency of God’s word.

 

God’s word is sufficient even when

It doesn’t give you the answer you are looking for.

 

God’s word is enough even when

It doesn’t show you the thing you most want to know.

 

Maybe you want to know “why” or “what next”

And God’s word doesn’t tell you that.

 

But keep reading it, for even if God’s word doesn’t tell you “why”

It can still encourage you and lift you up

As it continually reveals God’s faithfulness.

 

In short, God’s word is enough, even when you don’t think it is.

 

So if you ever find yourself in distress again, like this Psalmist,

Don’t get discouraged, and don’t give up on God.

 

Continue going to God’s word.

Continue to meditate on His clear commands.

Continue to find joy in His countless testimonies.

 

That is what this Psalmist decided to do, and it will work for you too.

 

Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

 

The Quest for Purity

Psalms 119:9-16

August 14, 2011

 

As you know, we have begun studying the 119th Psalm.

 

For those who weren’t here for our introduction,

This is far more than just the longest chapter in Scripture.

 

• 176 verses – 174 directly refer to the Word of God

• An Acrostic – each stanza begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet

• Rich in Value – each stanza comes from a different circumstance.

 

And we have said that as we study this Psalm,

Not only will we learn to love the Word of God more,

We also learn that God’s word is sufficient for every circumstance.

 

Last week we saw that God’s word is sufficient to bring blessing to a life.

 

We saw a Psalmist who had committed sin and because of that sin

Was now walking in guilt, was somewhat severed from God,

And actually lived in fear that God would forsake him to the uttermost.

 

And from that floor of brokenness, he looked up

And saw that there were people in life however who were blessed.

It was those who had been obedient to God’s Word.

 

In the end it wasn’t those who engaged in sin who were the happiest,

It was those who had chosen to obey God.

 

This brought about an epiphany for the Psalmist.

(4) “You have ordained Your precepts, That we should keep them diligently.”

 

In other words the Psalmist learned that God’s commands

Were not merely suggestions or alternate ways of living.

God spoke because He expected mankind to do what He said.

 

The Psalmist learned that and actually made a determination

That from now on, he would obey God.

 

(7) “I shall keep Your statutes;”

 

And so while his sinful choice had not brought about blessing

God’s word was sufficient to bring blessing to a life.

 

Tonight we come to a new circumstance

In which we find God’s word sufficient.

 

And this circumstance is not hard to spot.

(9) “How can a young man keep his way pure?”

Here we have a man on a quest to be pure.

 

So we understand that the context of this Psalm

Is to help you and I find purity.

 

Now of course that presupposes that purity is the desire of your heart.

It most certainly should be, as purity or holiness

Is in fact the desire of a true believer.

 

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

 

The attitude of the redeemed is a hunger and thirst for righteousness.

• It is this initial hunger that first drives them to Jesus for salvation.

• It is the continual hunger even after salvation that causes a true believer to long for a life of purity.

 

This was the context behind Paul’s infamous 7th chapter of Romans.

Romans 7:21-24 “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

 

Paul may not have achieved perfect righteousness in this life,

But it is clear from that chapter that he wanted to.

 

And of course having studied Romans, you are aware that at this point Paul has already confronted all “so called” believers who don’t desire purity.

 

Romans 6:1-3 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?”

 

Paul saw an obvious contradiction to anyone who

Claimed to be dead to sin, yet who still desired to live in it.

 

In effect Paul was asking, “Did you die with Christ or not?”

 

Romans 6:12-14 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

 

And so we understand that the supernatural desire

Of every true believer is in fact purity.

 

They are those who have seen their sin, mourned over their sin,

Repented of their sin, trusted in Christ,

And now who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Furthermore, we know that purity is God’s desire for us.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:3a “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…”

 

Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,”

 

And really it is summed up the best by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

 

Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 

God desires holiness,

God desires purity,

God desire sanctification in our lives.

And so it also stands to reason that this is the desire of Christ in our lives.

 

Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”

 

Christ literally washes us over and over

In order to make us clean, spotless, and blameless.

 

Of course the water Christ uses is “the word”,

And that is a great segue to this stanza of Psalm 119

 

Here we find a “young man” wanting to know how

He can achieve and maintain the purity that he desires,

That God desires, and that Christ desires.

 

PERHAPS YOU HAVE HAD THE SAME QUESTION.

 

In a carnal world where sin bombards us…

A world with temptation on every corner…

 

HOW IS A BELIEVER SUPPOSED TO BE PURE

IN THE MIDST OF SUCH A VILE SOCIETY?

 

That is the question of the Psalmist.

And I hope you clearly see his answer tonight.

 

Four things

#1 HIS CONCERNS

Psalms 119:9-11

 

When you read those three verses, one of the first things that pop out at you are the concerns that this young man faces.

 

He actually lists three.

1) PURITY

(9) “How can a young man keep his way pure?”

 

It is a simple desire to be holy and to maintain holiness.

He not only wants to be pure, but he wants to stay pure.

 

He wants to “keep his way pure”

 

But obviously with such a fallen world around him,

He’s concerned he can’t maintain this level of purity.

 

We have all had times in our lives when we hit the spiritual mountain top.

A revival…

A retreat…

A mission trip…

 

And during the event God was able to deal with sin in our lives

And through it we found forgiveness and healing,

And ultimately a mountain top of praise.

 

And really one of the main concerns we have coming back

Is that we never again stumble in sin

And have to return to that floor of shame.

We are thankful to be pure and we want to remain pure.

 

That is also a concern of this young man.

2) APATHY

(10) “Do not let me wander from Your commandments.”

 

And this is a very honest statement.

He doesn’t blame all of his sin on the devil.

 

• There are times in his life when he grows complacent to purity.

• There are times in his life when he grows tired with obedience.

• There are times in his life when apathy sets in.

 

And maybe you’ve seen this in your life as well.

 

There were times when the slightest sins nauseated you,

But then there are times when they don’t bother you quite so much.

 

We are prone to grow apathetic toward sin,

And although we may not defiantly break God’s word,

We sort of drift away slowly through apathy.

 

Like the hymn, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, here’s my heart, O take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above.”

 

He is concerned about apathy.

3) INIQUITY

(11) “That I may not sin against You.”

 

And this is a legitimate concern as well.

It reveals the most negative of the three concerns.

 

This is a person who just defiantly and adamantly chose to do something that they knew wasn’t pleasing to God.

 

The Psalmist certainly knew he was prone to this type of sin.

 

And now he stands with these concerns.

Purity

Apathy

Iniquity

 

And let me just say that these are healthy and Biblical concerns.

You and I ought to be concerned about purity.

You and I ought to be fearful of sinning.

You and I ought to be guarded against apathy.

 

This is at the very heart of spiritual warfare.

 

Contrary to popular belief, Satan isn’t trying to steal

Your money, or your health, or your happiness.

Satan is trying to steal your purity.

 

(In fact he’ll give you money in exchange for purity)

 

AND SO WE GUARD OURSELVES AGAINST SIN!

 

Listen to what Peter says;

1 Peter 1:13-19 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

 

After telling us to be holy, Peter actually tells us to “conduct yourselves with fear”. He is telling us to be afraid of falling into sin.

 

We live our lives afraid of cancer…

We live our lives afraid of cholesterol…

We live our lives afraid of cellulite…

But Scripture says we should be afraid of sin.

Remember Paul’s admonition to publicly rebuke a sinning elder?

Do you know why we are to publicly rebuke them?

 

1 Timothy 5:20 “Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.”

 

And so this man’s concern is dead on target.

But his question is still the same, “How..?”

 

And if you noticed he actually answers the question.

(Perhaps God answered it for him)

 

IN REGARD TO PURITY?

(9) “How does a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.”

 

The simple answer is OBEDIENCE.

He knows that God’s word is sufficient

To lead you to a life of perfect purity.

 

2 Peter 1:2-4 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

 

It is the Scripture that allows us to maintain pure lives.

God’s word is a road map of instruction on how to live this life.

 

BUT HOW ABOUT APATHY?

(10) “With all my heard I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.”

 

• There we see that it is actually God who keeps us focused.

• It is actually God who keeps us from growing apathetic.

So the answer to apathy is to have a relationship with God.

 

And here the Psalmist seeks it.

He is seeking God with all his heart.

BUT WHERE DO YOU SEEK FOR GOD?

 

Do you go to the highest mountains?

Do you go to the lowest valleys?

 

Romans 10:6-8 “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART” — that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,”

 

We seek God out in His word.

It is in God’s word that you commune with Him.

It is in God’s word that you hear Him.

It is in God’s word that you see His heart.

 

So the Psalmist knew he would run to God’s word not only for a guide of what to do, but also because it was there that he would find God.

 

It is impossible to be close to God and be apathetic about purity.

God is a consuming fire, and when you are around Him,

Trust me purity is all you thing of.

 

(Remember Isaiah when he was close?)

(What do the four living creatures cry?)

 

BUT WHAT ABOUT INIQUITY?

(11) “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.”

 

• How do you handle temptation when you aren’t in church?

• How do you handle situations at work when your Bible isn’t with you?

 

You put God’s word in your heart before you ever go.

 

God’s word is living and active.

And God’s word can get inside of you and go with you wherever you go.

 

Remember the promises Jesus made to those who witness for Him?

Matthew 10:19-20 “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”

 

John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

 

And that is our safeguard from iniquity.

 

The best illustration of this is Jesus when He was tempted by Satan.

He didn’t have a bible with Him,

But He did have God’s word written on His heart.

 

At those moments when He had access to it, He treasured it,

And that aided Him while in the midst of the battle.

 

The Psalmist decided that to answer his concern about purity,

He needed to treasure his access to God’s word, he needed to read it in search of God, and he needed to do what it said.

 

This is how he would “keep his way pure”

 

His Concerns

#2 HIS DESIRE

Psalms 119:12

 

And doesn’t this statement make perfect sense.

 

If God’s word is the answer to living the life of purity that he desires,

It only makes sense that he would now desire more of God’s word.

 

And this is an obvious revelation to our own lives.

 

If we claim to desire purity, but do not desire to learn God’s word,

Then somewhere we are deceiving ourselves.

 

This man wants purity so he sets out to learn God’s statutes.

 

But beyond that, notice what he says.

“Blessed are You, O LORD;”

 

First he indicates that God is “blessed”

In other words God is the best, God is where he wants to be.

 

And since God is the best, the Psalmist says,

“Teach me Your statutes”

 

To put it plainly, he says I want to learn what You have to say

Because You are the best.

It is like asking Tiger Woods to teach you to hit a golf ball.

 

That’s not only a statement of SUFFICIENCY, but one of PRIORITY.

There is nothing I could learn more valuable than what You have to say.

There is nothing I could read more reliable than what You would tell me.

 

Certainly this should be our desire as well.

To desire God’s words over those of anyone else’s.

 

His Concerns, His Desire

#3 HIS SATISFACTION

Psalms 119:13-14

 

Here we have a small statement of contentment.

It is a testimony to how fulfilling he has found God’s word to be.

 

• He has read God’s word…

• He has searched out God’s word…

• He has obeyed God’s word…

• He is learning God’s word…

Now he makes a statement to let you and I know that it is worth it.

It is so much worth it,

That he has given God’s word a full endorsement.

 

“With my lips I have told of All the ordinances of Your mouth.”

 

He says that what he has found in God’s word was of such value

That he has determined to spread it to others.

“I tried God’s word, and you should try it too!”

 

I love going to my parents house

Because this is the type of conversation that continually goes on there.

(A bunch of preachers preaching)

 

But it is not just satisfaction in what he has learned.

This man has also found satisfaction in what he has tried.

 

(14) “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.”

 

That is from the heart of a man who did what God said,

Reaped the benefits of his obedience, and rejoiced in it.

 

Many times in life we do things we shouldn’t have done,

Only to regret it later.

But have you ever done something God said to do,

Even when it was hard, and lived to rejoice in it later?

 

It is the joy and praise of saying,

“Wow God, you really were right, it worked great!”

 

• This psalmist desires purity

• He went to God’s word for it.

• And he is satisfied with what he found.

 

His Concerns, His Desire, His Satisfaction

#4 HIS PLAN

Psalms 119:15-16

 

And again this makes perfect sense.

If God’s word has always been worth it…

If God’s word is valuable to keep you pure…

 

THEN HOW SHOULD I DEAL WITH GOD’S WORD FROM HERE ON OUT?

 

And what follows is absolutely profound.

He gives the answer as to

How every believer should treat God’s word.

 

He gives the answer as to how every person

Who longs for purity should approach God’s word.

 

Let me give you four words

As to how a believer should approach God’s word.

1) MEDITATION

“I will meditate on Your precepts”

 

Don’t just read it to get through with it, read it to learn something.

(There is so much more to say here, but I feel confident we’ll make it back here before we are done with the Psalm)

 

But don’t just swallow God’s word whole,

Chew on it a while, ponder it a while.

 

2) EXAMINATION

“And regard Your ways”

 

“ways” refers to how God walks, or what God would do.

 

The Psalmist always approaches God’s word to find out

What God would do if He were in this man’s shoes.

 

That is how a believer approaches the Bible.

• We go to it to find out how God would handle my situation.

• We want to know what God would do.

 

3) ADORATION

“I shall delight in Your statutes”

 

1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”

 

A believer cannot view God’s word as burdensome.

If he does, he has listened too much to the enemy,

Who told Eve that God’s commands were killing all her fun.

 

• God’s laws are not a “drag”, they are not a “kill-joy”

• God’s laws are for our good.

• God’s laws are a benefit.

• God’s laws are our safeguard, they are our solution.

 

That means that instead of reading the Bible and saying,

“O no, God said I can’t do that.”

 

We should say,

“Hallelujah, God has spoken in regard to this situation!”

 

We ought to rejoice to find that God has given and answer.

4) RECOLLECTION

“I shall not forget Your word.”

 

On one hand this speaks of the memory,

And a desire to hide God’s word in your heart

(which every believer should)

 

But it also speaks of influence.

When I face a situation and God’s word is brought to my attention,

I will not disregard it.

 

I won’t forget what God has to say.

It is a promise to always keep God’s word at the pinnacle.

It is a promise to always let God have the last say.

 

And this is how a believer approaches God’s word.

 

He meditates on it, He examines it, He adores it, He recalls it

And gives it preference in every situation.

WHY?

 

Because it is God’s word that will protect him

From the sin that he dreads.

 

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.”

 

If you wonder how you will ever escape

The bombarding temptations of this life unscathed…

 

The answer is you won’t,

Apart from a relentless commitment to the word of God.

 

The only way to achieve the life of purity

(which we learned last week is the blessed life)

Is to dive into the word of God.

 

GOD’S WORD IS SUFFICIENT TO BRING ABOUT PURITY IN YOUR LIFE.

• Obey it

• Seek it

• Treasure it

• Learn it

• Tell it

• Rejoice in it

• Meditate on it

• Examine it

• Delight in it

• Never forget it

Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

 

The Blessing of Obedience

Psalms 119:1-8

August 7, 2011

 

Tonight we begin a new study in the word of God,

We begin our study of the 119th Psalm.

 

To many it is merely “the longest chapter in the Bible”

But it is far more than that.

Some have called it David’s Magnum Opus.

 

It is in fact a Psalm that reverberates

With the immense value of the Word of God.

 

There are 176 verses in this chapter, 174 of them mention God’s word.

You will grow familiar with words like

“Law, Precepts, Testimonies, Statutes, Ways and Judgments”.

 

Each of those have their own distinct meanings,

But corporately they all refer to the Word of God.

 

Another unique thing about this chapter is that it is an acrostic.

There are 22 stanzas of 8 verses each.

 

Each of those stanzas is characterized by every verse

Beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

 

This is not the only chapter in Scripture arranged like this.

Proverbs 31 (The virtuous woman) is also an acrostic.

 

The obvious reason is to make it easier to memorize

 

The other unique thing about this chapter is that each stanza seems to come at you from a different angle.

 

This Psalm is far from mundane or routine or redundant.

 

Each stanza finds the author in a different circumstance

And each stanza offers the word of God as the solution.

 

For example:

Tonight we find a man who is in fear of being forsaken by the Lord and has recognized that obedience would have been a better option.

 

Verses 9-16 are written from a heart that longs for purity…

(9)“How can a young man keep his way pure?”

 

Verses 17-24 are written from a heart of man who is being chastised…

(23) “princes sit and talk against me”

 

What we hope to learn then is obvious.

 

We certainly want to develop a greater love for God’s word.

But we also want to learn the sufficiency of God’s word.

 

David Allen,

“We won the battle for the inerrancy of Scripture. Now we are fighting the battle for the sufficiency of it.”

 

We all agree that the Bible is God’s Word.

We all agree that it is without error.

What we must also believe is that the Bible is sufficient.

 

It reigns supreme over every other form and type of information.

 

It was God who asked through Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 23:28-29 “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD. “Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?”

 

Nothing anyone could say could even come close to comparing

To the value of knowing what God has said.

 

His word is sufficient.

 

And as we study this great Psalm hopefully our hearts will grow

Even more in love with the living and enduring word of God.

 

Tonight we study the first 8 verses.

Now tonight I am going to give you an outline, but it is going to be a little backward.

 

Four things

#1 SIN SEPARATES

Psalms 119:8b

 

“Do not forsake me utterly!”

 

The reason we start here at the end in this opening stanza

Is because it is actually this statement that gives us insight

Into the circumstance behind it.

 

Each of these stanza’s comes from a specific circumstance

Finding that circumstance makes it easier to interpret the text.

 

It is this statement that helps us understand

Where the writer is coming from.

 

When you read these first 8 verses,

Initially this statement sort of catches you off guard.

He is giving this great statement about the blessing of obedience and even his intention to be more obedient

Then all of a sudden he hits this cry to God. “Do not forsake me utterly!”

 

And that statement puts the rest of the stanza in perspective.

 

This man has a fear.

This man has an anxiety.

 

WHAT IS IT?

That God would forsake him utterly.

 

Now the fact that he uses the word “utterly” would indicate

That to some degree he already feels forsaken by God.

 

He uses the word “utterly” because he is begging

That God won’t go all the way and forsake him totally.

 

This is not a man who feels secure in his relationship with God. This is a man who has a kink in the relationship

And now fears that God will just totally cut him off.

 

The Psalmist has done something that hindered the relationship with God

At some point in his life he was disobedient to God,

And now he is reaping the effects of that disobedience.

 

Verse 6 indicates that he has shame when he reads God’s word.

Verse 7 indicates an inability to learn more of God’s word or rejoice in it.

 

And if that wasn’t bad enough he now fears a total rejection from God.

 

Now I know we scoff at such a notion today, and quickly fire back,

“And surely I will be with you always…” or

“I will never leave you nor forsake you…”

 

And so we would sort of tell this guy to just dismiss it and

“Know that you know” that God won’t ever do that.

 

But you see this Psalmist has proof that God will.

 

TURN TO: 1 Samuel 13:5-14

Saul did not obey, and God promised to remove the kingdom.

 

TURN TO: 1 Samuel 15:1-3

(10-11; 17-29)

And there again God promised to reject Saul.

 

TURN TO: 1 Samuel 16:14; 18:12

 

Now this was Saul God was referring to.

• The man God had hand-picked.

• The man on whom the Spirit of the Lord came and he prophesied.

 

There was a time in which Saul knew the presence of God,

And then because of Saul’s disobedience, God departed from him.

 

(Now we are not going to get in to security of the believer here.

Saul is in fact an example of an apostate. And you cannot compare Old Testament to New Testament in relation to the Spirit of God – True believers have God’s Spirit in them and that Spirit is a deposit of a salvation that cannot be lost)

 

But I point out Saul to you because I want you to see that

This man is in distress that God would leave him,

After all God has done it before.

 

Now what we don’t know is what this man did.

We don’t know his specific sin.

We don’t know what occurred.

 

If it was David, it could have been a number of things.

 

Remember the affair with Bathsheeba?

Psalms 51:10-12 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.”

 

Remember when David numbered Israel?

1 Chronicles 21:8 “David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

 

David surely made mistakes, and whatever the mistake was here,

Now he is in fear that God will throw him aside, just as He did Saul.

 

And that is the context to this stanza.

 

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THERE?

You walked in an area of disobedience, did something contrary to the word of God and the guilt and shame was so bad that you feared God would just wash His hands of you altogether?

 

I certainly have.

And you and I are not alone.

 

• Here we find Peter’s tears after denying the Lord…

• Here we find the shame of John Mark after abandoning Paul…

• Here we find the frustration of Paul in Romans 7 as he does the thing he hates…

 

We have been there.

We have all learned that SIN SEPARATES

 

We know that sin hinders our fellowship with God,

And when that fellowship is hindered, life is dreadful.

 

Sin Separates

#2 RIGHTEOUSNESS BLESSES

Psalms 119:1-3

 

Now at this point we have to make a very important distinction.

 

DO YOU NOTICE THE PRONOUNS USED IN THE FIRST THREE VERSES?

“those”, “those”, “they”, “they”

 

It is important to note that he is not here referring to himself,

But to someone else.

 

Here is a man who has disobeyed is suffering the consequences of disobedience, and is afraid of utter rejection.

And from that spot in life he lifts up his head and notices someone.

 

WHO DOES HE NOTICE?

“those whose way is blameless”

“[those] who walk in the law of the Lord”

“those who observe His testimonies”

“[those] who seek Him with all their heart.”

“[those who] do no unrighteousness;”

“[those who] walk in His ways”

 

To help make it even more specific, look at what he notices about them.

1) HE RECOGNIZES OBEDIENCE

 

He says they (1) “walk in the law of the Lord”

He says they (2) “observe His testimonies”

He says they (3) “walk in His ways”

 

He sees that they are obedient people.

Whereas he failed to obey God’s word, he sees that these did not.

 

He recognizes obedience.

 

2) HE RECOGNIZES HOLINESS

 

He says (1) “whose way is blameless”

He says (3) “The also do no unrighteousness”

 

And that means that their obedience isn’t short lived.

They obey all the time.

Perhaps these were even those

He would have scorned or ridiculed in the past for their choice.

 

3) HE RECOGNIZES SINCERITY

 

He says (2) “[They] seek Him with all their heart.”

 

He even recognized a level of sincerity.

 

He wasn’t referring to Pharisees here.

These were not those who were clean on the outside,

But inside full of robbery and self-indulgence.

 

He recognizes people who obeyed God

And walked holy because they wanted to.

 

While the rest of this world was choosing

The passing pleasures of sin, these chose God.

 

4) HE RECOGNIZES BLESSING

 

He says, (1) “How blessed are those whose way is blameless”

He says, (2) How blessed are those who observe His testimonies”

 

And this is an important recognition.

 

Often times we hear of those who choose to do things God’s way

And then live jealous of the wicked.

 

Remember Asaph?

Psalms 73:3-5 “For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind.”

 

Psalms 73:13-14 “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; For I have been stricken all day long And chastened every morning.”

 

Many a religious man has abstained from certain pleasures

Because of his calling, yet secretly and inwardly has wished

He could enjoy the sin of the wicked.

 

Just the opposite is occurring here.

Here we have a man who chose sin.

Here we have a man who disobeyed.

Here we have a man reaping the consequences of shame and fear

 

And all he can see is how blessed the righteous are

For making the decision to obey.

 

Men can deride another man for refusing to look at other women,

But on the day their marriage falls apart

They will recognize how blessed he is to still have a happy home.

 

Women can mock a woman for choosing her kids over a career,

But on the day their children leave the nest

They will recognize how blessed she was to have spent so much time with her children.

 

This man sees who is blessed.

It is those who did it God’s way.

 

Psalms 1 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”

 

Sometimes it is hard to see the blessing involved in obedience.

Satan loves to make God’s laws look burdensome and outdated.

 

But we know that God’s laws actually serve

To save us from our own bad choices and selfish desires.

 

God’s decrees protect us from ourselves.

And the true path of blessing is not found

In doing what is right in our own eyes,

But in doing what God says is right whether we understand or not.

 

That is what this man just saw.

 

Sin Separates Righteousness Blesses

#3 GOD IS SERIOUS

Psalms 119:4

 

Now again we notice the pronoun change.

Now he isn’t speaking about “they” nor is it just himself yet.

 

Here he speaks to everyone.

This is the point in the Psalm

Where he tells everyone who will listen what he has learned.

 

“You have ordained Your precepts, That we should keep them diligently.”

 

The more we study this Psalm, I’ll try to help you see the subtle differences

For all the words that the Psalmist uses for God’s word.

Tonight let me just point out what “precepts” means.

 

When you see the word “precepts” in this Psalm,

Think of the word “treasure”.

 

The word “precepts” comes from a word that means “to place trust in”

So here the writer refers to “something God has entrusted to man”

 

It paints a picture of something valuable

That God has entrusted to man.

 

That is why the writer says “keep them diligently”

The literal translation is “keep them carefully”

 

He uses a word to help you and I recognize God’s word as a treasure.

 

And of course it is.

Psalms 19:10 “They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.”

 

And mankind should treasure it.

 

1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” – which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”

 

And that is the light the Psalmist speaks of it here.

 

And this is only fitting.

 

After all, his life is in a predicament

Because he didn’t regard the word of God.

 

And the only difference between himself and the blessed is

They treasured God’s word and he didn’t.

 

All of a sudden he has grown to look at God’s word differently.

This is a treasure that God has entrusted to man.

 

And finally the Psalmist understands it rightly.

God gave His word because He intended it to be obeyed.

 

“You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently.”

 

God didn’t give His word as suggestions.

God didn’t give His word as just another option.

 

When God gave His word He saw it as a divine treasure,

And He spoke intending for you and I to listen.

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”

 

Moses clearly tells us there that God did not tell us everything.

There is plenty that God knows that He has never told us.

But what God did tell us, He expects us to treasure it and obey it.

 

And it is like that light just came on for this man.

 

Here he sits in the despair of disobedience,

And as he looks at the blessing on those who obey God he finally gets it.

GOD MEANT FOR ME TO OBEY

 

God wasn’t giving me an optional way of doing things,

God was telling me how to do it,

And because I didn’t, my life is a wreck,

While those who did obey are blessed.

 

And we must understand that as well.

God’s word isn’t for decoration.

God’s word isn’t for starting conversations.

 

God’s word is for ending conversations.

God’s word is the final answer, the Amen, the end of every argument.

 

Romans 3:19 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;”

 

God doesn’t just throw His two cents in for you to weigh your options.

When God cares enough to interrupt the silence He expects that you will

See that as a special treasure and do what He says.

 

This man has just figured that out.

God is serious.

 

Sin Separates, Righteousness Blesses, God is Serious

#4 OBEDIENCE IS THE ANSWER

Psalms 119:5-8

 

And now we change pronouns one more time.

Now it is all about himself.

 

1) HIS DESIRE (5)

“Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes!”

 

In other words, I may not be obedient now, but I sure want to be.

I sure wish I could change.

Here is a man that sees the blessing of the righteous and says,

“I want to be like that!”

 

I want to be a blessed man!

I want God’s favor in my life!

 

And that by the way is the absolute beginning of wisdom.

Proverbs 4:7 “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding.”

 

That is this man.

I’m not obedient now, but I want to be.

 

And friend anyone who can see God’s blessing on the righteous

And not want a part of it is a fool.

 

• How could a man not want peace that surpasses comprehension?

• How could a man not want grace that is sufficient?

• How could a man not want mercy that is new every morning?

• How could a man not want love that never fails?

• How could a man not want a marriage that lasts?

• How could a man not want children that love the Lord?

• How could a man not want life that is full?

• How could a man not want an eternal home?

• How could a man not want treasure in heaven?

 

These are blessings that God pours on those who obey Him.

 

Even Jesus started His famous sermon by 9 times saying, “Blessed are…”

He was giving you the pathway to blessing.

 

You ought to desire it.

This man did.

He desired obedience that he could be blessed too.

 

2) HIS DREAM (6-7)

“Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments. I shall give thinks to You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments.”

 

Notice these aren’t things he is doing now.

 

Right now he is ashamed when he reads God’s word. He is convicted.

Right now he doesn’t learn from God, God won’t leave his sin alone.

 

You see when we walk in sin, God isn’t interested in

Teaching us new things, He only wants to deal with the sin.

 

And so this man isn’t presently learning.

 

But he knows if my heart were established in obedience,

Then I could get to a place where I could read without shame,

And I could read with gratitude and joy.

 

This man sees the blessing on other lives and he dreams of it.

 

3) HIS DECISION (8)

 

“I shall keep Your statutes; do not forsake me utterly!”

 

There is his new commitment.

I have decided to obey God.

 

And friend that is the answer.

• If you find yourself lacking joy in your salvation…

• If you find yourself with anxiety that God is angry…

• If you find yourself in disobedience and no fellowship with God…

 

Then start doing what those who are blessed have been doing

And start obeying God.

 

Take one of God’s commands and obey it.

(There may even be one glaring one that needs to be dealt with first)

 

But the return is simple.

Start obeying God.

 

“walk in the law of the Lord”

“observe His testimonies”

“seek Him with all [your] heart”

“walk in His ways”

 

The outcome will be the same blessing

That dwells on those in the first three verses.

 

And so tonight we get our first lesson on the sufficiency of God’s word.

 

God’s word is sufficient to take you to a life of blessing,

If you will only obey it.

 

Take it from this Psalmist who didn’t, and who suffered because of it.

But as he saw the blessing of the righteous,

He had a change in thinking, and he determined to be obedient as well.

 

Make that your decision as well.

Decide in your heart to obey God’s word. It is always a blessing.

 

Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”