We could spend quite a while
in Psalm 119, as you could see. We take a few verses at a time. There's 176 verses, but I thought
that we would just really have one final study in this chapter, and perhaps encourage further
study on your own, because as you may remember, there were
three study divisions that we looked at with regard to this. Three considerations. First of
all, the word itself is called by several different names and
they all have different meanings, revealing to us all that God's
word is to us. It calls the word, the law, the
testimonies, the ways, the precepts, statutes, commandments, judgment,
and word. in this one psalm. We looked
at several of those. And then secondly, we looked
at our relationship with the word or what do we do by God's
grace and want to do with regard to the word. We walk in it, keep
it, have respect unto it, learn it, take heed unto it, hide it
in our hearts. That's a precious one. And we
pray that God would not let us wander from it. and that he would
grant us his law graciously. We read that verse again tonight.
And there are many others that we would, it'd be well worth
the time to study some of this on your own if you wanted to. There'd be quite a few more along
those lines. But I thought we'd take one message
tonight and look at the third division and final consideration
that we'll take up in this chapter. And that's the benefits that
God bestows upon us by his word. What's the result of keeping, studying, learning, delighting
in his statutes, word and law? The first two verses of the chapter
have the one word that we'll look at first. Blessed are the
undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed
are they that keep his testimonies. and that seek him with the whole
heart. The word blessed, blessed. The word means very simply happy. Happy. By this word I know God. By his book, by his revelation
of himself, I know who he is. And that makes me happy. I know
of my own sin. And I'm not real happy about
my sin, but I'm happy to know about it. I'm glad I know. That's
what a doctor does. If he lies to you about what's
wrong with you, that's not good. But if he tells you the truth,
that's good to know. That's good to know. And here's the thing. I see that God is gracious to
sinners in his word all through. Not only I see the doctrine of
his grace towards sinners, The fact that he is, but I see examples
of it. Abraham, Moses, Saul of Tarsus,
the Ethiopian eunuch, all through the word of God. He shows himself
to be gracious, to center that thief on the cross with his dying
breath. God gave him faith, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God gave him faith in that one hanging
next to him on that cross. So that he saw who he was and
saw that he was innocent. This man hath done nothing amiss.
And saw a king. Looked at that bloody, broken,
beaten, dying, by all accounts, according to this world, failure.
And said, that's the king. That's the king of heaven. And
said, Lord, when you come into your kingdom, remember me. God
is merciful to sinners. And you know, if you read the
book, if you study the word of God and hear God's word, you
know the point of all of this. I don't know about you, but I
don't know very many people in this world that are happy, do you?
Very few. And even some that seem to be
happy, You know, it's kind of easy to
put on a show, isn't it? Kind of pretend. The things that
this world gives don't bring happiness. This book, God's book,
reveals the point of it all. Why are we here? The answer to
every question worth asking is Christ. What's the origin of
all things? Well, without Him was not anything
made that was made. What's the point of it? What's
the purpose of all things? What's the purpose of this life?
Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. All things
were created by Him and for His pleasure they are and were created. What's the end of all things?
Christ. We're all going to end up at
the judgment seat of Christ. And some by His infinite grace
and mercy are going to be with Him forever. He's the Alpha and
Omega and everything in between. And isn't it good to know that?
Doesn't it make you happy to know that? What the point of
everything is. What the end of everything is.
I know how it ends. And so I don't get discouraged.
Well, I do, but I shouldn't. And I don't get discouraged like
those who don't know Him. Because I know how it ends. It makes me happy. How can Paul and Silas sing in
the prison at Philippi? staring death in the face. The
truth of God's grace in Christ made them happy. They were happy. When anyone else in that same
situation would have been scared and bitter and probably complaining,
you know, why us? We didn't do anything wrong.
And they're going to kill us just for preaching. Paul and
Silas were just singing, singing of his grace, singing of his
love. Happy. The gospel made them happy. In
Christ, I'm safe. Happiness has something to do
with security, doesn't it? If I'm not safe, it's hard to
be happy. In Christ, I'm safe. I'm righteous before God. Happiness
has something to do with your sins being gone. Guilt and happiness
don't go very well together. But there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Happy! It's sin that brings sadness
and grief and shame and fear. To know that Christ has taken
away my sin, takes away all of those bad feelings and emotions
and fears. And what else? If you're not
afraid, and by God's grace, you know this flesh, we still have
fear, we still have doubts, don't we? But we can also say with
David, honestly, the Lord is my rock, whom shall I fear? I
can say that honestly. So if you're not afraid and you're
not guilty, you're not lonely. A lot of people
in this world are lonely. Believers are never alone. You're not mad at God or really
at anybody else. What does that leave? We're just
happy, aren't we? Just happy. Blessed is the man. And then look at verse 3. Here's
a beautiful benefit. And again, we're not going to
go through every... We're going through the first three here,
but we're not going to go... But look at this. They also do no
iniquity. That's a pretty good benefit
of the Word. They don't sin. I know what you're
thinking. Wait a minute, Chris, I do sin,
though. Oh, but think about the sense in which you don't. Think about this with me. What
a beautiful benefit. They do no iniquity. Well, Chris,
you don't sin. Oh, yeah, I do. But let me say
that. Let me be real quick to say this.
In Christ, I do not. The Lord sees no iniquity in
me because I'm in Christ. Now I know by God's grace, I
know what sin is. And you know what else? I know by God's grace how to
avoid outward, grievous transgressions against God. Now I know what
you're thinking again. You're thinking probably like
I was when I saw this. Are you actually able to avoid
sin Because of the instruction of
God's word, if I apply my heart to the word
of God, will it actually enable me to avoid sin? Well, let's think about that
for a second. First of all, no, in a sense, because sin is mixed
with everything that I do, and you too. Everything we do even when we
worship God if we come here tonight to worship God And we are worshiping
him you still sinful in it Even you worship has to be repented
of Somebody said even our repentance has to be repented of that's
the truth That's the truth you understand that I pray you understand
that we are never without sin But hold on a second I learn in his word the importance
of worshiping. I see him in the word and therefore
want to worship him. And even though sin is mixed
with my worship, that my worship is to be repented of, worshiping
beats the alternative, doesn't it? Would you rather worship him
or not worship him? You see what David said in verse
11? Look at verse 11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee. You see that? If the word is in my heart, If
all of the glories of Christ that are revealed in this book
are in my heart, and I see Him as He is in some sense, as a
believer is able to, by faith, see the Son of God, and I desire
to worship Him, and I worship Him, you see how that applies
here? Even though my worship is not sinless, of course it's
not. I'm a sinner. I'm still in this sinful flesh. But I don't want to neglect His
worship. And maybe, just maybe, think
with me now. Maybe you're thinking, well,
Chris, you're off base here. We're so sinful in all that we do that
this point just doesn't even, it don't add up. Hold on a second. Just maybe, maybe if I'm in the
word of God, by his grace, if he reveals his book to me, as
David's talking about here, Maybe my perspective on things
won't be the same as it would be otherwise if I know not his
word, if I don't apply my heart to his word. Maybe I'm not offended
so easily because I look into his word
and I see my own wretchedness. You think that's possible? You
think maybe God could show me how vile I am so that everything
that somebody says bad about me wouldn't cause me to bow up
and be mad at, you know, I could just say, well, you know, they're
right. Maybe I don't say that stupid thing. And it seems like I always say,
maybe I don't say it every time. Maybe God does keep the door
of my lips, and maybe this is how he does it. You reckon? You think that's what David's
longing for? Of course, he's talking about the fact that by
the word of God, we are begotten again into a lively hope, by
Christ Jesus, by His Word, and in Him, we're perfect before
God. That's our righteousness. He
is our righteousness. But just maybe God can teach
me not to, every time I open my mouth, say something stupid.
You reckon? Can we desire that too? If God, by His gospel truth,
slays slays in me to some extent the proud self-righteousness
of my heart. Maybe I don't, maybe every once
in a while, maybe I don't by His grace and through these blessed
means, maybe every once in a while I don't let my pride dishonor
my Lord or ruin a wonderful friendship. or break a loved one's heart, or offend a brother or sister
in Christ. Maybe every once in a while,
I won't do that. And maybe God will use his book
to make it so. You reckon? I think that has
something to do with our text. Just every once in a while, God. Perhaps God would use the wondrous
gospel of His grace in Christ to actually inspire worship in
my heart for Him and a desire to honor Him. And maybe put a sincere song
of praise in my heart for Christ. Maybe a desire to serve Him. Maybe by his revelation, I could
say honestly with David, I believe, or maybe Solomon, I would rather
be a doorkeeper in God's house than live in Trump Tower in sin
and ignorance and rebellion against God. Maybe that might be true. And if I do worship, and if I
do have a song in my heart, and if I do serve Him, it's all going
to be full of sin. I know that. But also, it's all going to be
the result of God working in me, both to will and to do of
His good pleasure. And I'd sure enough rather that
than the alternative. How about you? And I believe the Lord uses his
word in that, don't you? Now is this my righteousness
before God? No. Christ is my righteousness,
all my righteousness, and my only righteousness. And that's also taught in this
same text. The way that the scriptures are
able, you remember what Paul said to Timothy, he said the
scriptures You have known from your youth the holy scriptures
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. How do the scriptures
make a sinner wise unto salvation? By revealing Christ to that sinner. Christ who is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This word makes
us wise unto salvation in Christ. This word is our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. How we must treasure this book. And then here's a great benefit.
Look at verse 6. I'm going to read it backward.
When I have respect unto all thy commandments, I won't be
ashamed. Wouldn't that be nice? That's
a pretty good benefit, isn't it? I won't be ashamed. I'm ashamed of myself. But you
see, my trust and my rest and my hope are not in myself anymore. So that doesn't even matter.
Being ashamed of yourself is a good thing. But I'm not trusting
in myself. Trusted in Christ and I'm not
ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ Paul said It's
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes Not
ashamed Look at verse 9 And this is akin to what we said about
not sinning Maybe I don't Everyone's maybe I don't sometimes maybe
I don't say something that dishonors my Lord because of his word Here's
a similar one. Verse 9, wherewithal shall a
young man cleanse his way? Without the word of God, how's
a young man going to cleanse his way? This speaks of the young
man particularly. And I think that's important. How's that going to happen? How
is a young person, and we look at our children and our grandchildren,
and we say, how in the world are they going to turn out right? Now of course our first consideration
is God have mercy on them. God have mercy on them. God save them. Forgive their
sins. Reveal yourself. Reveal Christ
to them and in them. And then Lord we don't want them
to go the way of this world. How are they not going to do
that? The influences, the pressure, the peer pressure. How are they going to turn on
all right in this cesspool of a world that we're raising them
in? Well, I'll tell you that God's Word is going to have something
to do with it. God's Word. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter
6. You can certainly turn there if you'd like, but I'll read
it to you. Deuteronomy 6, 4. Listen to this. Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy
might. And these words which I command
thee this day shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children, carefully, energetically. It's going to be important to
you that your children hear the Word of God. You're going to
teach them diligently and you're going to talk about them. What's
he saying? These words, the Word of God. You're going to talk about them
when you sit in your house and when thou walkest by the way
and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. The subject
of this conversation in your house with your children is going
to be the Word of God. And just as Philip began right
where that Ethiopian eunuch was reading, and preached unto him
Jesus, we must show our children how that the whole law and the
whole testimony of God concerns Christ. Now think about what
we just read. He said, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all
thy might. And these words will be in your heart. Now think about
that. God demands perfect love, perfect
devotion, perfect obedience, perfect service, and only Christ
can render it. Only Christ ever loved the Lord
his God with all of his heart. Christ is our hope. Christ is our law-keeping. Christ
is our righteousness. And by his grace and spirit and
power, we love him. We love him, but not perfectly,
not with all of our heart, not a lot like we all, but he did
as my representative. You see how even the law, even
God's law, you can start right there. Like I say, like Philip
did with that Ethan, you can start with the law of God and
preach unto them Jesus. The whole work of God, he says,
is to believe on Christ. Believe on Him. Proverbs 22,
5. Listen to this. Thorns and snares are in the
way of the front. We think about our children going
through this world. Thorns and snares. He that doth keep his
soul shall be far from them. How? Next verse. Train up a child in the way he
should go. And when he is old, he will not
depart from it. Thorns and briars in the way,
but he that keeps his soul won't get caught up in it. Our children,
maybe by God's grace, they won't be influenced by this. They won't
go astray. I look at people that I love,
that I know very well, and I love, and their life is an absolute
train wreck. And you can trace it back to
one or two bad decisions that they made. Just one sometimes. And one that can easily be made.
How are our children not going to end up like that? Train them in the way they should
go. And this is the promise of God. I'm a walking example of that
promise. A living, breathing example of
it. Thorns and snares, not only of
sin, but of our self-righteousness and pride, which is sin. Of our
nature. How are they avoided? By staying
in the way. Train them in the way. Show them
the way. What is the way? Christ said,
I am the way. Well, that's just too simple. What do you mean by Christ is
the way? Well, it is simple. It's also the truth. The way
is not don't smoke, don't drink, don't cuss, and don't go with
girls that do. That's not the way. Christ is
the way. Christ is the way. And the only
way they're going to know Him is by this book. Train up a child
in the way that he should go. Teach him of Christ. Pray that
God would reveal Christ to them. Because He's the way. And there
is no other way. Look at verse 24. Thy testimonies also are my delight
and my counselors. This is what we've been talking
about. When we say happy, happy, your word is what makes me happy. It's my delight and my counselors. The testimonies of God are my
counselors. They whisper in my ear. They
teach me of Christ. We don't walk around like religion
speculating about what would Jesus do. By God's word, we hear
from him what Christ did do. And that's my hope. Who he is
and what he did, that's the way. Verse 28. My soul melteth for heaviness,
strengthen thou me. According to thy word, my soul
melteth for heaviness. May the Lord, by his gospel,
strengthen us. David says here, my soul is heavy. Does that ring a bell? You remember?
Does that sound a little bit familiar? Heaviness of soul.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane,
said, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Do you know
why? Do you know why Christ, the Son
of God's soul was heavy, insomuch that it almost killed him right
there on the spot? Because he was bearing my sin.
That's why. The weight upon the soul of man
is sin. But let me ask you a question,
believer. If Christ bore your sin and his soul was exceeding
heavy even unto death with your sin, what are you heavy about?
Why is your heart heavy? Well, my sin. Why are you bearing it? Why are
you worrying about it? Why are you afraid of it? Why
are you guilty about it if our Lord Jesus Christ bore it? If
God put it on his son in the garden and he bore it all the
way to the cross and put it away, why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God. My soul is heavy. The believer
is a paradox. We are happy, we talked about
that already, and his word makes us happy, the gospel makes me
happy. And yet, we are heavy, and Paul
said we do groan. In this flesh we groan, waiting
for the adoption, to with the redemption of our bodies. We
know that the Lord has redeemed our souls, but we're still in
these bodies, aren't we? And we're waiting for him to
redeem these bodies. He's already redeemed them with
his precious blood. He just hasn't taken possession of them yet
in the sense of ultimate glorification. But we're here. We belong to
him. He bought us and paid for us, body, soul, and spirit. But
we're still in these bodies and we do groan, he said. And you
know, that can be necessary at times. That can be necessary. Turn to 1 Peter. I want you to
read this part with me. 1 Peter chapter 1 because you
know we do needlessly worry and fret and are guilty over our
sin. We're needlessly so because Christ
has borne our iniquities and yet there is a necessity at times for us to be troubled. Look at
1 Peter. Let me get over there. First Peter 1.3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, Reserved
in heaven for you who are kept. You see that? He's had mercy on us. He's born
us again. He redeemed us with his precious
blood. We have a living hope by the
resurrection of our Savior. His death and resurrection from
the dead. And we have an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, and is already reserved.
Nobody can take it away. God's already done it. The works
are performed from the foundation of the world by Him, for us,
and we're kept. We can't get away from Him if
we want to. We can't fall if we want to. We can't fail if
we want to. That kind of makes me happy, doesn't it? That's
what we're talking about. That's why I'm happy. What is
there not to be happy about? Wherein ye greatly rejoice, verse
6. Sure enough, don't you? Though
now, for a season, just for a little while, you're in heaviness through manifold trials. David said, my heart is heavy.
And the Apostle here says, if need be. You know, that part's not up
to us, is it? If I was only in trouble when
I thought I needed to be, you know how often I'd be in trouble? If I only had trials when I thought
they were necessary? Boy, Chris, you know, I think
you need to go through something horrible, you know, something
tough. I would never say that. But the Lord knows what we need.
And he puts us through these troubles, trials, heaviness, just for a season. So that, verse
7, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, though
it be painful and grievous, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory. the appearing of Jesus Christ,
whom having not seen, you love. In whom, though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your soul, heaviness, troth, and rejoicing at the same time.
Does that make any sense? It does if you know him. In this flesh we do. And when
your soul is heavy, think about what David said. Think about
what he said. He said, My soul melteth for
heaviness. Strengthen thou me. Where are
you going to look when your heart is heavy? Lord, you're my strength. Strengthen thou me according
to thy word. According to thy words, strengthen me. That means
strengthen me like you said you would. You said you'd be my strength. You said I'd mount up with wings
as eagles. I'd renew my strength because
you're my strength. But also, how does God strengthen
us? By revealing his truth to us.
By the Holy Spirit taking the things of our Savior and showing
them to us. Let's close with verses 40 and
41. Back in Psalm 119, just for a
minute. Verse 40. 40 and 41, let's read them together.
Behold, I have longed after thy precepts, quicken me. You know what that word means.
Give me life. Give me life in thy righteousness. Let thy mercies come also unto
me, O Lord, even thy salvation according to thy word. How do we know anything about
life and mercy and salvation? It is by this word, this gospel
that God saves He saves sinners, and He's still saving sinners
by these means, and I'll tell you this, He's still saving me
by these means, by this word. That's not a one-time thing. Give life. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said to Satan when he was tempting him in the desert in Luke chapter
4, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
comes out of God's mouth. You see how that applies to what
David said, quicken me Lord, quicken me with your word. 1 Peter 1.22, listen to this now,
1 Peter 1.22, seeing you have purified your souls, in obeying the truth through
the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you
love one another with a pure heart fervently, see to that
being born again. How are we going to love one
another? How are our souls purified? How are we going to obey the
truth through the Spirit? How are we going to have unfeigned,
unhypocritical, sincere love for the brethren? Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Our prayer
should, O Lord, quicken me, birth me again by your word, give me
life, by that incorruptible seed of the word of God. And look
at what verse 41 says again, remember what it said, mercy,
your mercy comes to me this way. Your salvation comes to me according
to the word. How does God's saving mercy come? You know, that's what David said
here. Let's think about it. Let thy mercies come also unto
me. How are the mercies of God going
to find me, where I am in my lost, vile, wretched condition? How do God's mercies come so
far down, even to me? Well, they come in Christ, first
of all. God's mercy coming to you looks like the Son of God
coming to you where you are and having mercy on your soul. It
looks like the Good Samaritan coming to that one that was bleeding
out in the ditch and picking you up, pouring in the oil of
his grace and the wine of his precious blood and picking you
up and taking you to the inn and paying your way and saying,
whatever he owes, it's on me. It looks like God's Son coming
right where you are and doing everything necessary to save
you from yourself, from your sin, from Satan, from the justice
of God. That's how God's mercy comes,
in the form of a person, in the person of Christ. His blood must
wash us. His righteousness must clothe
us. God's mercy comes to us in Christ. And I'll tell you this,
it comes to us surely in Christ. It doesn't come potentially.
It doesn't come as an offer. It comes certainly and fully
and without fail in Christ. If God's mercy comes to you in
Christ, you done had mercy had on you. It is certain. God's salvation, his mercy is
not up to anything, especially you. It is finished in and by
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If Christ died for you, it is
enough. It is salvation. It is mercy
from God. Christ crucified is salvation. I tell you this, it comes freely.
It comes without a cause in you. It comes freely. Nothing you
do, nothing you don't do, has anything to do with it. It's God having mercy on you
just because He wants to. God's salvation and mercy in
Christ come to you in spite of you, not because of you. And I'll tell you the fourth
thing is this, it comes forever. that comes to stay, his mercy
endureth forever. You can't forfeit the saving
mercy of God in Christ simply because it is in Christ. If Christ forfeits it, then it's
forfeit. But you can't because it's not
dependent on you. And he can't because he's God. As we, his people, keep, do,
meditate on, and hide his word in our hearts, may God's mercies
come unto us, even his salvation. In other words, may Christ be
our all and in all, and may we ever more and more, as we look
into his words, see him to be just that, everything.