(upbeat guitar music) ♪ I love growing in your grace ♪ ♪ You have your hand on me ♪ ♪ And all that I do wrong ♪ ♪ Love will keep me strong ♪ ♪ I love to be in your grace ♪ - All right, let's open our Bibles tonight to Psalm 119, shall we? We are currently in what the Hebrew Bible calls the books of wisdom. They start in the book of Job. They run through the song of Solomon. All of those books have the purpose of helping your daily walk with God. It isn't like the historical books where you can learn history in the sense that they are devoted to having you learn the spiritual lessons through the historical accounting of the nation, although there's history here. And they're not like the prophetic books which speak of the judgments of God and of the future of God's work, though there is prophecy here. But they are most designed and the desire of these books is to help you deal with the big issues in life. Why did God do that? And why does God allow this? And how can I seek the Lord when I'm going through these things? And they are all present tense helps, which is why they tend to be loved by more people than anything else. You know, you can find daily instruction. In the Psalms, it is the prayers of the saints and the songs of the believer that put us, you know, in that place of recognizing how we might pray, how we might seek the Lord. We were talking today about going through the Bible for the third time and the Psalms are such a big book. We take almost over six months to go through it. And you that have been with us for that time know that. Psalm 119, we will spend four weeks in and then we will pick up the pace 'cause then the Psalms get, it's really interesting. You know, you get all these verses in Psalm 124 verses or six verses seven verses and then you can take off. So we've been going through chapter by chapter verse by verse taking as much as an hour will help us to do. With the intent that you might be familiar with the Bible and God's word in a big context in the bigger picture. So Wednesday nights we go through very slowly. We've been in Hebrews for about and we'll be for about eight months. On Sunday mornings we've been in the gospels for three years. But on Sunday nights our desire is to get through the entire Bible in five years we have yet to make that work. But here we are in our third time through and the church has been here 22 years. So we get to Psalm 119. This evening we'd like to look at the first 32 verses. We don't know who wrote this Psalm. Although if you ask somebody they'll tell you everyone's got an opinion. And whether they say it's David or Hezekiah or Jeremiah or Ezra or Nehemiah or Malachi or Daniel and there's somebody with that opinion out there in the commentary world. They're within the Psalm our arguments for each of them depending on which way you're leaning. We do know the Holy Spirit gave it to us for our benefit. The internal evidence from what is written would suggest that whoever wrote it was a saint who was suffering through the contempt of others that had sometimes gotten very severe and that those in power and in a position of authority had even made him fear his physical safety. Apart from that we can't know. He speaks much about the laxity of the culture in which he lives and even the apostasy or the turning away from faith amongst the people in his culture. And he keeps going back to saying but it is God's word and God's work that has kept me strong in the midst of these things. There's no mention of the temple in this Psalm. No mention of the ritual law of approach to God. There is rather an emphasizing of the inward kind of spiritual aspects of faith. And so because of that many argue Dan, you must have wrote this in captivity far removed from religious life in Jerusalem. They're good arguments all. I just don't have a way to tell you for with great assurance. This is it and not that it matters but certainly we can't know for sure. The central theme of the work is God's word. And the psalmist who wrote the psalm does not see the law of God as some kind of harsh eating. But he sees it as a tremendous source of joy and a tremendous place of learning to find God's best. And so it is not a place of regulation for him as much as it is a love and a pleasure to discover. And as a poet he writes poetically but as a believer he writes with great zeal. And he doesn't see the law as duty, he sees it as love. Has several of the other psalms that we've gotten to recently, Psalm 111 and 112 come to mind immediately. This psalm is written as an acrostic. It has 22 stanzas of eight verses. And each of those stanzas begins with the following letter in the Hebrew alphabet. And they are listed for you there. Notice the word aleph, they're at the beginning. It's the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And all of those eight verses that follow begin with that letter, although obviously in English that doesn't come across. It does come across in Hebrew. It is written this way I'm sure of to help in memorization. But it is an acrostic. And each of those subsequent eight verse stanzas start with the next letter of the alphabet. So you have 22 letters in the alphabet, eight verses, 176 in all. In almost every verse, there is a word used to describe the law or the scriptures or the word of God. And except for four verses, that is true of everyone. Verse 90 doesn't have that reference. Verse one, 21 and verse 122 don't. And verse 132 doesn't. But aside from those four verses, the other 172 all use a word of reference to the scriptures or to the word of God or to His instruction. And God is mentioned in every verse. And the Psalmist refers to himself some 300 times in relationship to wanting to know and keep and love what God has to say. It is really the epitome of the scriptures when it comes to a discussion about the Bible as God's word. There are some nine different synonyms used in Hebrew to describe what God has to say or the word of God. There is the word Derek, it's the word for the way. There is the word Torah for the law or for instruction. There is the word Ada, which is the word for testimony or the testifying of one. There is the word pikut, which is the word for precept. There is the word choke, which is the word for statutes and mitzvah, which is the word for commandments and mishtat, which is the word for judgments or ordinances and daba, which is the word for the word and imra, which is the Hebrew word for words plural. But He interchanges them a lot, but they literally apply or refer to the same things. What does God say? What has God said? And whether it's His instruction or whether it's just the way of walking or whether it's the ordinances of God or the word of God or the statutes of God or the precepts of God. The words are different, but the reference is to the same place. So it has great depth, but at the same time, it has a very sharp focus. So we will look at the first four stanzas tonight, the first four letters, Alice and Beth, Gimmel and Dalith, and then we will pick up the next several next weeks. So let's look at verse one, Alice, singing a song, if you will, for the first eight verses to the word of God or of the word of God. Verse one, blessed are the undefiled the Psalmist writes in the way who walk in the law of the law. Now you find here the word the way Derek is the Hebrew word, but it literally means a course of conduct or a lifestyle that is marked out or a way of life that is laid before us as being the way that God would say we should live. The Bible would say that there are really only two roads that you can be on. One of them is the way that God would prefer and that God would prescribe and the other is not. There aren't really 50 ways, you know, like Paul Simon would tell you, there's really only two. You got the broad road that leads to destruction, the disobedient life, I can figure it out on my own. There's a lot of people that join you. And then there's this narrow road that leads to life and it leads upward and forward and it's eternal, but it is the way that you choose. The undefiled are blessed. The word means oh, how happy, how filled with joy is the undefiled who will walk in the way and in the law of God who will choose that way. You know, you constantly run into people who think that the way of God is very undesirable. I remember when I first got saved, telling my friends that I'd come to know the Lord and they go, that's gotta be boring. You know, what is your life consistent now? Church, wow, that's gotta be exciting, you know? And they kind of made fun of you. And then they'd wanted, well, what can't you do anymore? That was the next question, what can't you do anymore? You got a list of stuff you can't really have fun with anymore, you know, and pretty soon they want, and what they want to do is say that way is really boring. That's really a frustrating kind of, you know, what are you gonna have Bible studies and prayer and you gotta do good all the time? That sounds like a lot of fun. Well, you know, that's the way people view the way, but not the Psalmist. The Psalmist sees the way of God is the way where blessing is found. And that's certainly the way the Bible sets it before us. That if we walk in the law of the Lord, then we'll be blessed. How much fun is it to be a slave to have it? Or to be, you know, have sin just take you out physically and spiritually, how much fun is it to not be able to say no to a vice in your life? But God says here of the believer in the word undefiled is the word for complete or perfect. It speaks of commitment, usually not of perfection in the sense of without sin, but that person will be in plural, blessed. Whenever you read, by the way, of happiness in the Bible or blessedness, God always marries it to holiness. The two are stuck together. There really is no way to separate them, which is why the unsaved can never really be very happy. Because their focus is on the counterfeits that the enemy gives to them to rely upon. And they are empty and they won't last through any kind of difficulty. They are mostly pleasure oriented or pleasure center self focused. And the world's happiness is tied to what happens. That's the word happiness, whatever happens. If it's all, if it's all, you know, there's a saying in the world, it's all good. Well, good luck with that. It's not all good. Some of it's just rotten, you know? But if you're depending on what happens, it's all good. Because it's the only place you can find your happiness. And people equate happiness with that pleasure or prosperity or power or popularity or position, which is pretty much a very worldly thing. But as you go to the Bible, God equates happiness with commitment and with holiness and they're tied together. The more you're committed to the Lord, the holier is in the words of separation to the Lord you are, the happier you're gonna be. Because you're gonna be closer to what God intends and what God wants. The man who is ruled by the scriptures is happy, which tells you that Jesus must have been the happiest person alive. He must have been the most blessed one available. And even the cross was described as endureable for the joy set before him. He endured the cross, despised the shame for the joy set before him. His walk with the father, as my example, saved me. And it brings us to worship him. Blessed is the fellow who is completely committed to following God's course of life and walking in the laws of the Lord, walking in them. You know, it's fun to watch kids learn to walk. Now that you have grandkids, you know, you get to see them and you don't have much responsibility, really. You just get to kind of enjoy things, you know? You have to worry about what they're gonna eat and when they're going to bed and you just feed them and you have to buy them stuff. You just get to watch them. It's better this way. Grandkids, you should have them first, really, if you can work it out. But I always watch, it's fun watching kids learn to walk, you know, because it seems to me from the moment they can roll over on the floor on their face, they decide that lying face down on the carpet can't be all there is to life. And they're gonna do whatever it takes to make sure that they're moving ahead in life, you know? And it's tottering and it looks dangerous. It's rocky. It's a lot of falling down and getting up and... But they're determined. They're not just gonna lay there on their bellies, which is good for us. You know, you don't wanna 15-year-old, "Ah, you want them getting up and moving," you know? But that's the way it is with the Lord. Blessed are they who will choose to walk in God's path and place themselves in line with His law. If we will, as Christians, commit our ways to try to seek the Lord's plans and press on to do it His way, your life will be filled with a happiness that you cannot find else in. And it is easy to declare that that's true. I mean, from a, you know, a precept standpoint, it is much more difficult to put it into practice. Mouth service is pretty easy. But to say to yourself, I'm gonna walk in the ways God describes His way works. I'm gonna follow it, but as best as I can. Well, that's quite a commitment that the Lord is looking for. And you might ask yourself, how could more of His word be found in my walk? Because blessed is the man who puts himself in the Lord's course and walks in the law of God, who walks in the Torah, the law, the instruction of God. Verse two, and blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with their whole heart. You know, at best on Sunday nights, we can scratch the surface to the Psalms and give you something to think about. But, you know, like most of these books, they are intended for, you know, do you just spend time with and hear from God personally? Because what a mouthful this verse is, you know what you think? The captivity to the word gives your life purpose. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, the testimonies of God, the fact that God speaks. The word is Adah, but it means that God has spoken. If someone gives testimony, we listen. You know, what do you think happened? What did you see happening? What is your testimony? Well, here's God's testimony about life. And since He created it, might be good to pay attention. You know, when you want to know what will please your life ultimately and satisfy you, you might want to listen to the maker of life, the creator of life, the giver of life. And the fact that God has made His will clear should give us desire to be blessed by it. Let's follow what He says. But notice that verse two ends with the words, the blessing comes to those who seek Him with their whole heart. It's interesting to me that the blessings of God or the testimonies of God are clear, but the benefit comes to those who wholeheartedly seek after them. It seems like God places great premium on diligence. And that trying to know the Lord with some kind of a 20% commitment, He doesn't seem to go a long way, you know? It requires a complete commitment. I don't know if you've ever tried to go to the gym to work out, but once every six months doesn't really work, I'm just giving a little testimony right here. It doesn't do a lot of good. You really have to go every day and be one of them every day knuckleheads, you know? I say that from personal experience as well. It's the same thing with the Lord. You know, if you're seeking something that's important enough to you, you'll give it everything you got. And there can be no greater purpose in life than to discover what God is doing and follow God's advice. And Lord, what do you think about this? Oh, you know what you should do. Forgive those who hurt you. Really, that's your advice? Seems kind of dumb to me. Yeah, it might be dumb, but you know, after all, I did create life. All right, I'm gonna go that route. You should pray without ceasing and not worry about anything. Oh yeah, great advice, wonderful testimony. But if with your whole heart you want to incorporate what God has said into your life, you're gonna find the blessedness of doing that. And notice blessed are they who are undefiled as they walk in the way and walk in the law and keep the testimonies and seek them with their whole heart. And then not only that, but verse three says, they also will do no iniquity and they walk in his ways. It's interesting that captivity to the word with a whole heart guarantees in many ways your purity. Because sin will keep you from the Bible. But enough of God's word in your life will also keep you from sin because you're just tuned into what the Lord has to say. Jesus walked through life, seeking the will of the Father. He sinned not. You, I, if we will live in such a way that we allow the word of God to rule our thoughts, sin tends to not stick to us because in the light it doesn't really have a chance. So, you know, it's hard to sin in church, isn't it? Here you are worshiping. You're pretty much committed to seeking the Lord for an hour. No, do that two hours a week and now you got two hours redeemed. And now there's that time alone with the Lord and time in the word, it will redeem you. It will keep you. Verse four tells us that you have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently, pickhoot. It's the word for precept. God, you have taught us, you have commanded us. You have spoke to us that we should keep diligently, you're precept, there's the word command and the word with diligence. The word precepts occurs only in the Psalms. And it carries the idea of taking charge or something that takes charge. It is a word that is attached to the demands of God upon human race. They are God's precepts. They are God's demands. So, the psalmist sees the commands of God as those that really don't leave him with much of a choice if he wants to do what God said. To obey his demands is the responsibility of man. You have commanded us with great diligence to obey your demands. That's a good way to look at it, I think. God, God not only blesses those who will listen with their whole heart, but he demands that we pay attention. You know, the whole creation really obeys the Lord. The sun comes up in the morning and goes down at night and the stars race through the heavens and don't hit each other. And everything seems to work out just fine until we get to man. Now, that's another story. Sin has messed us up, hasn't it? But the Lord will command us to follow diligently with all that we have. The things that he has demanded of us. We have an obligation. Oh, he writes that my ways were directed to keep your statutes, then I would not be ashamed when I look into all of your commands. It's interesting that he knows what God wants verse four, but verse five says he doesn't always do or see in his life what he wants. He's aware of how short he comes from doing what he wants. He wants it, but he doesn't always see it. It sounds much like Paul in Romans seven talking about longing for a holy life, but seeing the activity of the flesh kind of, you know, hinder the will that wants to do what God says. So he sets a goal. I want to be directed by your words so that I won't be ashamed when I open my Bible. I won't be so convicted all the time when I read everything and I've done nothing, you know. I want to do them all. I think the Mosaic Law had 613 specific commands. I want to do all of those. I want to follow each one. And then he says, I will praise you with an uprightness of heart when I learn your righteous judgments and I will keep your statutes. Oh, do not forsake me utterly. So he determines to head for total obedience, but he's not proud enough to think that he can do it. So he asked the Lord to be patient with him. I know I'm going to come up short. I'm going to press on, don't get rid of me. Just, you know, stick with me. I have lots to learn, but I'm willing. And every one of these 22 stanzas ends with a verse that longs for God's strength and a commitment to do things God's way. There's always a resolution at the end of these eight verses. I'm going to do it. I'm going to commit to it. I'm going to give it my all and give it my best. And so the first stanza ends with the psalmist's longing for strength to keep all of God's law and relying upon his patience to bear with his sins and his failures. I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn your righteous judgment. I'm going to keep them. Just don't give up on me. Don't forsake me utterly. In verse nine, there are second stanzas. The word, the letter best, the subject, I think could be just hiding God's word in my heart. And so we are told about how the word of God cleanses and controls and corrects us if we value it and allow it to do its work. Verse nine, how he writes, can a young man cleanse his way? And his answer by taking heed according to your word. You remember being in high school? I remember being in high school. I wasn't saved in high school, but I remember sitting around in the high school lunch area. And I think it might have been a suburb of hell. I mean, I didn't know it then, but I think now it's got the same area code, you know, or zip code. We would fight and take drugs and drink alcohol in our seven-up bottles and smoke behind the gym and tell dirty stories. And it was the worst place in the world and I went to private school. And there were like rules against most of this stuff. This wasn't like public school where maybe you get away with it, I don't know, but well, even then you went and got away with it. But it was severe discipline if you get caught, you know? And now here comes this young man. He says, now, how in the world can I have my way cleanse? I don't know if the person writing this was this young man, it could have been, that would not argue then for Daniel writing it, but maybe someone else, unless Daniel wrote it early in life. How can a person clean his life up? And the answer is you can take heed to God's learn. I think that, you know, we have an interesting dilemma even in Sunday school and we have had it for years that we will find parents that come to church and bring their kids here and they will say, we're gonna go somewhere else to church. And we'll say, well, what's wrong? And they'll say, the kids like it better over at such and such a church. And they'll say, well, the kids get taught over there. No, but they have basketball and football and football and I don't know, soccer ball. They got some kind of ball, you know? And they just like it better over there. I said, well, of course they like it better over there. It's much easier to kick a ball than learn the Bible. But we feel like the responsibility of the church is not to entertain kids for an hour, it's to teach them what God has to say. It'll clean up their lives. Will they like it as much? I doubt it. I didn't like it as much. I liked Reese's much better than math class. But math class helped me to not get short change at the market, you know? I mean, sometimes you just have to press on. And so we don't apologize for teaching the Bible. And we do. We have a, even with our junior, starting in the junior high school, if your kids come here seventh grade and stay through 12th grade, they will have been taught every verse in the Bible. You know, it just doesn't matter what service they come to. They'll get it all. And that's just the way we believe God would have us to behave ourselves. You know, the kids don't need to be entertained. You can go entertain your kids. We need to just take the hour that God gives us and pass along. And the best way we know how at the age appropriate way that they can relate to what God has to say. So they might learn to trust Him. And you know, if you invest that and you sow that into the hearts of the children when they get older, I believe the Bible tells us they won't depart from it. So it is important that, you know, we teach the Bible to the kids. It'll protect their hearts. For that matter, it'll protect our old hearts as well, you know. But it will cleanse us. We have high school campuses that we go teach at in junior highs every week that our pastors go out and teach on campus during lunch, Bible classes. Because that's really the answer. The answer is not, you know, entertainment. Not that I'm against it, I love it. But there's a time for all of those things. And the time, at least from the church perspective, is to train and to teach the ways of the Lord. So if your kids go, I don't want to go over there, they're teaching the Bible. You just be proud of that and stick with it. And let the Lord teach your kids because that's what they need. They can get that other stuff anywhere. But to be taught God's word from people who love them and are praying from that's a treasure you can't really set aside. It grieves me to hear it. We hear it really more often than you'd like. And there's nothing. I can say, well, you make the choice for your kids. You know, you'll answer for that to the Lord. That's up to you. I hope that you'll consider their best interests and not what they tell you is something that makes them happy. Oh, I'll go to church. We have ice cream. But good. Good. What can a young man cleanse his way with by taking heed to the word of God? And then he says, not only does it cleanse me, it will control my life with my whole heart. And notice how often he repeats this wholeheartedness. With my whole heart, I have sought you, let me not wander from your commandments. So it cleanses us, but it controls us only when we give ourselves wholeheartedly to it. Else, straying, if you will, is inevitable. You know, the folks who say, I come to church every Sunday morning. And then the Bible goes in the trunk and the lid is shut because you don't want to lose that thing. And you know where it is next Sunday. And then they go, you know, I'm having a hard time walking with the Lord. No kidding? That 35 minutes a week ain't doing it for you. I don't get it. I don't understand. It's the wholehearted commitment to the things of God that matter. And to know the Lord and then treat him with some kind of an aloofness or detachment is to really set yourself up to fail. If I want to be controlled by what God says, I need to listen to what He tells me. And it's just a matter of willingness to do what God has spoken to. To say, Lord, tell me again. I'm always interested now that we, you know, we teach a lot and we go through books that we've taught before. I find myself going, oh, I forgot about that. That is the coolest verse. And to learn it again and to learn it better next time is so helpful, but it is when you seek with your heart, then you don't wander. If you don't seek with your whole heart, you wander all the time. And boy, do we see people come and go, but it can cleanse you, it can control you, verse 11. It can correct you. Your word, He writes, I've hidden in my heart so that I might not sin against you. And we read that a couple of minutes ago, didn't we, about, you know, that if we will diligently seek the Lord, it will keep us from sin or protect us, if you will, from sin. So you read that again here. I'm going to hide your word in my heart. I won't sin. It's interesting to me that the more you know the Lord, the less you're interested in the world. Or the sinful invitations of the world. You know, Joseph, you know, was propositioned by a woman, I suspect, was used to getting her way. And Mrs. Potter, you know, put on her best show for Joseph, a young man who, you know, from a sexual response position probably was 18 or 19 years old. And yet her invitation to come and sleep with her while her husband was away was met with Joseph in his heart with the words, can I do this great wickedness against God? Didn't involve her or her husband or anything else. His first response was, I'll offend God if I go that way. Well, that's the hiding of God's word, I think, in our hearts, you know, it comes forth from this young man's life with the word to keep on course. And the word does keep us on course. The temptations aren't so appealing when you're walking with the Lord, you just, I can't do that, that's not the word, you wouldn't like that. And you just move along and you miss all the opportunities to fall flat on your face, which is a good thing, isn't it? Hiding his word in my heart, then I don't sit. Verse 12, "Blessed are you Lord, teach me your statutes with my lips I have declared all of the judgments of your mouth. Teach me. Proclaim it with diligence, proclaim it with daring. Teach me your statutes with my lips may I declare all the words of your mouth." To learn the whole council of God as Paul calls it takes diligence. I don't know any quick way to do it, you know. We study a lot, we pray, we teach regularly, we teach systematically, we don't go for two and a half hours because I don't think your seat could hold out. Nor could your mind probably retain it and plus I'd run out of gas. Some people say, "Well, I've got no time to really learn the Bible, I just don't believe it." And I've told them that, I said, "I don't believe it. I think you have plenty of time to do exactly what you want." But nobody ever really learns the word by random reading. You know, if you get up every morning and play the Bible roulette and I'm reading today, oh, the book of Solomon, read my chapter, put it away and then next week, oh, I'm in the book of I probably won't help you. I'm not sure you can bring those thoughts together even if you know the Bible very well, you know. To master it requires commitment. But it also requires, once you learn it, a daringness to declare it. And I think that the church in America for the most part has lost its daringness because it doesn't really, with its whole heart, believe that God's statutes are right. I remember as a young college kid, going into my biology class and opposing Darwin with Moses. And I was in trouble quite early. But they really had no argument. And I can see you going into a philosophy class and setting Jesus up against Marx or going into your sociology class and challenging the premise that all men are basically good with the book of Romans, which seems to say otherwise. Or go to your geology class and challenge the old 20 billion year old earth with the book of Genesis. Or go to your psychology class and confront Freud with original sin. I mean, the Bible has a lot to say, but we need to be daring, don't we? I mean, go to a PTA meeting and ask to put the Bible back in school. We must proclaim his word with kindness and mercy, but proclaim it we must with daring. And so you read here in verse 12, "Blessed are you, Lord, teach me your statutes "that with my lips I can declare. "Speak out loud of all of the judgments of you. "I don't think we have to apologize for the scriptures. "It's life for us, isn't it?" And the world needs to hear it as well. And it's priceless. Notice verse 14, "I have rejoiced in the way "of your testimony as much as in all riches." Now, I will, if you can say that with absolute truth, then you've come a long way in your spiritual life. You know, if you can honestly say what God has to say is far more valuable to me than earthly wealth, most folks can say it, but they're not living it. And they don't treat the Bible that way or the learning of it, you know? They'd be rejoicing in your home if Ed McMahon called you, you know, with his million dollar deal. But this what you have on your lap is a far greater value. You can't spend this. You'll have this forever. And this will continue to give you reward. So proclaim it with diligence, see it as priceless. And then verse 15, this Psalmist writes, "I will meditate on your precepts." Remember those are the demands of God. "I will contemplate your ways, "and I will delight myself in your statutes "and not forget your word." Every one of those things takes commitment and time. The best way to keep God's word is to let it get in and then apply. But learn it well. If you just read it and forget it, or if you come tonight and sit and, you know, I'm talking, but you're not here. Oh, you're here, but you're not here. You know that daydreaming thing? Yeah, is he done already? Okay, let's go. Probably not gonna do you a lot of good, you know? You have to put your mind to work. When David was presented with an opportunity to kill Saul, he was also reminded that the word of God says, "Don't touch my anointed, do my servants no harm." And he backed away and said, "You know, I can't do this, God's word says otherwise." And Saul walked. Oh, he eventually met his match, but not at David's hands. And the Bible is full of truths for life, but, you know, if you don't prove them or apply them in the hustle and bustle of daily living, then you don't grow. After all, the Bible are not theories that God is testing. They are truths that God is declaring. It's very different. No, this isn't a test. This is not a test. In fact, one of the girls that sang at the outreach up in Hollywood this week and had a shirt on that said, "This is not a test." I think that's a great line. This is a test. No, it's not. This is the reality of God's life, God's word for our life. It's proven, it's sure. You can think about it, meditate on it, contemplate it, delight yourself in it. Just don't forget it. (gentle music) Gimmel, the third letter of the Greek alphabet, Hebrew, sorry, alphabet, beginning here in verse 17 gives us two thoughts in these eight verses. One, there are great opportunities for us found in the scriptures, but there are also many oppositions found against it as well. And, you know, some people love God's word like it's a treasure, others, they refuse its power completely. And so he covers both down from verse 17 to 20 and then in the rest of the verses. Verse 17, deal, he says, bountifully with your servant, that I might live and keep your word and open my eyes, that I might see wondrous things from your love. God, give me life and open my eyes and let me see the good things that you have for me. Open my eyes. Do you ever pray that? Lord, I just wanna see what you're doing. It's a great prayer because the soul is a pretty dark place, isn't it, without God? And yet when God's word gets into your life, like Paul said to Timothy, this God breathed word brings light and life. It registered, 2600 times in the Old Testament, a writer, a speaker claims that his words come from God. And in those words, God makes his way clear and simple. You know, Hebrews are pretty in-depth language. In fact, there are some 97,000 little bit more words in Hebrew, 97,000 in the language itself. But the Bible only uses 5,800 of them to make the clearness of the direction for life and hope and peace. God literally ignores 94% of the language so that you don't become confused. I mean, there are shades and meanings in Hebrew that are, it's a beautiful language if you really wanna learn it, although my Jewish friend in Israel said, don't learn Hebrew, only 6 million of us know when you're gonna use it. And I went, oh, all right, that'd be good. But he still tries to teach me words while I'm there, you know? And then I forget them the minute I leave. Open my eyes, Lord. Let me see what you're doing. Verse 19, I'm a stranger in the earth. So don't hide your commandments from me. I love the verse because, you know, as a Christian, you are isolated in many ways from the world. And Jesus survived by staying in constant fellowship with the Father. We get to go to church and hang around with Christians and listen to God's word, because it's a language the world doesn't know, you know it. It's a message the world doesn't receive, you hear it. It's a God that the world doesn't see, but you see him. So while I'm passing through, Lord, I don't wanna be left alone as a stranger. I need to hear from headquarters. I need to have that contact with you and to learn your commandments. So I might know how to behave 'cause I won't find it looking around. I'm gonna have to find it looking up. You, verse 21, rebuked the proud, the cursed, who stray from your commandments. Oh, I skipped verse 20 tonight. Verse 20, my soul breaks with longing for your judgments at all times. I love this fervent desire to know God, this longing, and again, it goes back to that whole hardness. You're gonna get what you want, but do you want what God wants to get? And then verse 21 stands as the opposite. You rebuked the proud, the cursed, who stray from your commandments. There is an opposition. There's a longing, a blessing, an opening of the eyes, and then there's those who don't think they need to hear from God at all. Pride is literally at the root of rejecting what God has to say, isn't that right? God doesn't know better, I know better. God's ways aren't right, my ways are right. Pride makes people think they know better than God. Look at Lucifer, big job, great position, absolute access, chief songwriter, chief worship leader, the fellow that sat right next to God's throne, and yet in pride, he believed somehow he deserved more. And thinking in pride that he could remove God from his throne, he rebelled, and then he found out he couldn't remove God at all. And he was judged. King Uzziah, early on, brought great reform to the nation, only to decide later in life. He was powerful enough to ignore what God had to say. So he went into the temple and he said, "I'll be a priest for a while." And he started doing what the priests alone were allowed to do. And the priests got mad and they warned him and they tried taking him out physically, but he persisted, he threw his weight around. And so God leaned on him, gave him leprosy, he died. You can't really throw your weight around with God, with godless notions, set aside the Bible, and then say, "Ah, my life is good, "because I'll do what I want." Look what the Bible said, verse 21, "You will rebuke the proud, they are the cursed." Who's cursed? Those who stray from your command. To be proud and not learn from God is to be cursed. Then he says, "Remove from me, reproach and contempt. "I have kept your testimony, "princes also sit and speak against me, "but your servant will meditate on your statutes, "and your testimonies are my delight and my counsel." Keep me from the ridicule as I learn to keep your statutes. I think there are fewer things that are harder to handle than when people scorn you, you know? I remember in college, and at least in college, when I went in the early '70s, there were a lot of Christian organizations and movements among even public schools. The Jesus movement had moved into colleges, but today it's much more difficult to try to live for Jesus in a secular college or even in a workplace, you know? God can deliver you, he will, but man, it isn't so easy, is it? To be reproach, to have people speak against you with contempt and even those verse 23 in power that would then declare you're worthless or you're no good. And yet you gotta spend your time looking at God's word and delighting yourself in that and letting that be your counsel. But all the while you have this external pressure, Diocletian and his son, what is the son's name? Galerius. You know, they in the middle of the 4th century, they decided they would just wipe out the Bible by killing everyone who spoke about it, believed it had it, wanted to follow it. And no one stepped in to help the believers, the church just suffered tremendously, but when God had had enough, Galerius was eaten of some vile disease and Diocletian died in seclusion out of his mind and at least the historical talk as he killed himself. He wasn't in his right mind nor was he in much peace. And the guys who had turned against the Lord and banned the Bible, you know, were destroyed, even the Roman Empire for that matter, but the Bible's still around and God's still working. So the psalmist writes, while the scourner's scorn and the powerful men speak evil, let me continue to hunger and to grow and to learn and to follow your direction. It's better to seek the word of God on raising children than reading a book on raising children. It is better to seek the Lord on investments than read the Wall Street Journal. Not that you shouldn't have good advice, but, you know, they only promised 15% return. The Lord speaks of a hundredfold. I'd rather just somehow follow him. And come what may the psalmist resolves to find his answers in the Bible. Here's a wise guy who's not moved by external pressure. Our last little group of eight versus Daylith, the fourth letter speaks about a joy that can be found for the believer in the midst of difficulty. The psalmist writes in these verses about some great sorrow that's given him a lot of grief. And it seems like a lot of it has to do with his own failure. He's kind of hard on himself. And he wants God to, I think, nine different places in this long psalm. He uses the words quick in my life or make me alive again or revive me. So as he is struggling, he comes to the Lord. He says in verse 25, "My soul, it clings to the dust, so revive me according to your word." There seems to have been a tremendous conviction upon him for the way he's been living. You know, that he wants to be humbled. It's a hard process. But he needs to be brought back to the joy of walking with God. And he's convicted. He says in verse 26, "I've declared my ways and you've answered me. Now teach me your statutes." So he's confessed his ways. Apparently, it sounds like he had been sinned and he's confessed it to the Lord. And God has brought him back to his mercy and his forgiveness. And there's conviction that follows and then confession. And then he says, "Make me to understand the way of your demands, your precepts, so that I can meditate on your wonderful words. Help me, help me." And that's certainly our prayer. All of these verses, by the way, convinced me it's not an easy road, you know? It doesn't come naturally. Sometimes your preacher's preaching, your figure, "Gosh, how come it ain't so easy for me?" I think they're giving you the wrong picture. It wasn't easy for them either. It shouldn't be. Look at the battle this guy's facing with his life just up and down. And yet he knows where he's supposed to be in turn and he wants to learn. My soul, verse 28, is melting from a heaviness. Strengthen me according to your word and remove from me the way of lying and grant me your law graciously. The word melt is very poetic. It's a Hebrew word that means to be brokenhearted or be touched within. He'd not been happy with his life. He was sorry and it appears at least from verse 29 that maybe the problem was he'd been doing a good portion of lying. But most people are prone to lie. Some do it occasionally. Others seem to do it without flinching. It seems to be the way of life though in our culture from politicians to businessmen from advertising to religion. It's all a bunch of lies. And you never know what's going on. We are obligated to have tapes so we can read that fine print. What does that say? I'll blow it up. 'Cause there's always 3 million things at the end. Here, take our medicine, but you should know it, it could kill you. And if it doesn't kill you, you could wish you were dead. But for the three people it will work for. You should ask your doctor about that, you know? We now have to put on coffee cups, it is hot. Oh really? Yeah, you don't wanna burn yourself. Don't put little pieces in your mouth. You could choke on them. No kidding. I mean, we have this weird society we live in, don't we? And lies seem to be the way of life. When Jesus comes to stand before Pilate, he told the truth. He was the truth. And then Pilate, who had been lied to so many times under oath and all, you know, and who had been lying quite a bit himself in that whole trial period, seemed to be a real cynical guy because he looked at Jesus and he said, "Oh, what is truth?" And before getting an answer, you walked away. And that's pretty much what we're left to. And yet the word of God stands in direct contrast to lying. And maybe you carry that cynicism with you when you open the Bible. You start to say, "Well, I wonder what that means. "I wonder what he's saying. "I wonder what kind of word games this is." No word games. God who wants you to know him. God who wants to love you and bless you. It tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help you God who wrote it himself. So straight me out on the inside, Lord, so I might learn better your words. And he had apparently got caught up in this whole lying, remove it from me. Just grant me your law. I have chosen verse 30 to tell the truth. I've chosen the way of truth. Your judgments I've laid before me, I'm clinging to your testimony. Lord, don't put me to shame. I will run the course of your commandments and you can enlarge my heart. So I have chosen, I cling, I will run. Notice, remember I said in every one of these they end with these decisions to do it right and asking God to help. So here it is again. I will follow your judgment. I will verse 31, cling the word for superglue. I will glue myself to your mandates and I don't wanna be ashamed. And I'll run the course you've set before me with an open heart to embrace your blessed way so I can glue. And if you look at the four testimonies we had today, we'll see each one of those coming and ending with this resolve to do what God says. We need resolve, wholeheartedness, then God can work and we need his word that will keep us because God's best is found in it. You're better off listening to what God says about life. He'll tell you the truth and you'll find peace and joy. Next week, we'll head further on down the road. Just study, would you on your own? And we'll see how many of them we can cover next time around. Father, how awesome it is this evening to be able to sit together with your people and just put your word before us and allow you to teach us your ways. And even in this long song that we could entitle how excellent is God's word, part one, two, three, and four. We do think, Lord, we need to learn it better. To walk in your way and be blessed, to be the undefiled who practice the law of God, that your word would captivate us, and that your word would purify us, and that we would hide it in our heart so it would cleanse us and control us and correct us, and that we would go proclaim your word with diligence and with daring, seeing, Lord, indeed as we read that it is priceless, far more valuable than going. And we would meditate on it and contemplate it and delight ourselves in it and not forget it. That you would open our eyes to it. And even when we were opposed that, Lord, we would find our joy in our walks with you being so that your word would give us hope. And the scoreners might scorn and speak evil, but we would grow and hunger for you, and that your word might convict us, and that we might confess our sin, and that you might break our hearts over it, and then correcting us, you might give to us great hope. And like the psalmist, may we say tonight of your words, I have chosen, and I will cling, and I will run after the things of God. Lord, that we might love what you say, and that we might be a people that not only hear it, but follow it, and put it into practice. Teach us, then change us by the ass. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Well, thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and rating our podcast. You can visit us on the web at morningstarcc.org, and on our YouTube channel at MorningstarCC. Again, that's @ MorningstarCC. If you'd like to support this podcast, please look us up at patreon.com/morningstarcc. Again, that's patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com/morningstarcc. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
