that we would be indeed in, as it says here, that we would have the desire to cleanse our way, to be as we should be. And it says, by taking heed thereto, in Psalm 119, verse 9, taking heed thereto according to thy word. So the word is how we judge things and how we compare ourselves. And as it says, it's a light to us. And we desire those things.

we often refer to what Paul had to say about the ability to do those things. And it's familiar to us and it strikes a chord with what we are like, that we desire to do those things that we seem not to be able to do. And we desire not to do some things that, and he says, that's what I seem to do. And he said, what's the answer? You can save us from the body of this death. And he says, I thank my Lord Jesus Christ that we stand in him and not in what our abilities are. And that is never gonna leave us in this life that we have the sinful nature still with us. And it's just what it is like.

But the point here being, of all of scripture is this is God's word to his people. This is God speaking to his people in the whole of scripture. And this is where we, how we are fed and how we know. There's a passage in the New Testament says, we have the mind of Christ. Will we hold it in our hands? This, the scriptures is, God's revealing His mind to us on those things that He would have us to know, and by the Spirit revealing the meaning of those things.

And we're going to probably say this thought many times as we go through Psalm 119, that it speaks about God's wisdom and God's thoughts to His people on righteousness and sanctification and our walk and conversation and all things that concern us, and that we can have the knowledge, we can have the words and understand the language of the words, But wisdom is the right application of knowledge. There's a lot of people that know the facts of the Bible, but don't know the application of it. They don't know the spiritual meaning of it. And that is what we always pray, that God give us that wisdom. And when we speak about wisdom, it is understanding and applying what we read as true.

message that that Pastor Norm brought last week mentioned mentioned might have been on Wednesday night, four verses that he used to go to it, and all of them were misapplied in those days. And as John 3.16 speaks about the world, people can understand what they think that means, but if it's not revealed in context, as he said, in context, but the wisdom of that is applying that is it as the facts are, but applying them as the scripture and according to the scripture. It has to, everything has to line up with what the scripture has to say.

And so we can know, it's not enough just to read the Word and memorize the Word, the Lord has to reveal His truth to us through that, and we're gonna look at a few passages that deal to that. And that is, here it speaks about the desires of God's people to be in accord with what the Word has to say, and that He makes that real and applies that into us. And it says in verse 15 down here, it says, I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. And here again, where it says in precepts and ways, statutes and word, those are all dealing with God's communication to us in the Scripture and how the Spirit applies and uses that. And it talks about meditating, and I think there's a difference between reading the Word and reading and meditating on what the Word has to say. And I think they go hand in hand. And I think that's just something that is something that we always have to look to and need to have is that desire to be in His Word. And He does that and gives that to us.

I'd like to, by way of a little bit of review, but moving on in this same section of 9 through 16, he says, thy word have I hid in my heart, and storing up that God's word. And we have done that many times and read and maybe memorized or spent a lot of time in God's word. And then at a future date, you go back over that passage and the light shines on it. And you say, well, I understood the words of that. I understood the passage of that. Now I understand what it means. And I have some wisdom in that direction of what that passage is speaking about.

And it doesn't come by hard study. There's many people that have spent many more hours of hard study than I ever have that don't understand what it's speaking about. And it's not a physical effort that reveals those things. It's God revealing, as it says there in Luke 24, He opened their eyes to the Scripture. He made them understand what it was speaking about. It has to be done that way and it has to be done that way.

So I would like to look at a couple of places and we might have mentioned we might have mentioned a couple of these verses last time, but in Psalm 37. Psalm 37 and just one. Verses 30 and 31 of Psalm 37, it says, The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. And this speaks again to the word that we have and hold in our hands, that we meditate and are in that word. And here where it says, the mouth of the righteous speak wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgment. And I think that, again, speaks towards the right use of God's Word and that the true wisdom is using that correctly.

And then in Psalm 19, in Psalm 19, Starting with verse seven, and there's a lot of, it'll sound similar to a lot of Psalm 119 here, but starting with verse seven, it says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Verse 13, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me, then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

And up here, a couple of thoughts from this that Verse seven, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. A couple of important things here that speak to the, the, the, God the Spirit revealing things to us where it says the law is perfect, converting the soul, and all of the scripture we've seen is the gospel according to whatever secretary at the time, the Lord used to pin it down, but it's all for the converting of the soul here and making wise the simple. That's what the scripture is to. The redemption of his people, it reveals the redemption of his people in the word, in the facts of it, and the Spirit reveals the truth of that and reveals the meaning of those things to us. making wise the simple, and passage it says also over in the New Testament says that the confound the wisdom of the wise with the wisdom that that God gives his people, that the simplest of believers has more wisdom and understanding than a lot of those that are wise, humanly speaking, in what the words have to say, but not mean. And so that's part of the benefit, as it says up here.

And then In verse 10 it says, And speaks about the value of God's Word to His people, just being in God's Word and all of His Word. as from himself, it's given of God. And this speaks to what we call this lesson, or we titled this, of hidden treasure. And indeed, the treasure of the scripture is open to be read, but the wisdom of it is handed out by God. It's not just of man's doing.

And we're going to spend a little bit of time in the book of Proverbs. Turn over to the book of Proverbs. And this speaks to wisdom, a lot about wisdom, godly wisdom and scriptural wisdom. And it personifies wisdom, and indeed, wisdom is a person, just like the word can be capitalized, and a lot of times should be, speaking of the Lord Himself. And He is wisdom. He is made unto us wisdom, it says here in 1 Corinthians.

But I'd like to read a few things in how this applies to not only this section of Psalm 119, but all of the Scriptures. Proverbs first chapter, the first few verses say, The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity, to give subtlety to the simple and to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man, verse five, will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. to understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings." And then verse 7 goes with that and says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

And it goes on in that vein, speaking about the wisdom that are in the scriptures, not just in the book of Proverbs, but in the book of Proverbs here, and speaking to in the beginning of what the word is, another passage where it's what the Word is useful to God's people for, and it says here, "...to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity, and to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge, and discretion. And these are all things that come from God as far as the scripture is concerned, and that learning those things and understanding those things.

And to perceive, it says, the words of understanding, not just to know the English language as we hold it, or the Greek or the Hebrew, or any other language that it may be in, but that he revealed the wisdom of it and the understanding of it that oftentimes is not on the surface. There's a lot of the Proverbs that speak about use a just balance in your business. Well, you can understand some of those words there, but there's a lot of the wisdom that comes with how to use that knowledge that Scriptures show to us. And then chapter two of Proverbs, And this is speaking as a person personified, and like I said, indeed, wisdom indeed is a person, is the Lord himself, is that source and one of all wisdom.

In verse one of chapter two, say, It says, my son, if thou wilt walk, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thy heart to understanding, yea, if thy cryest after knowledge and lift up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord giveth wisdom, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path. when wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee, to deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things.

" And a couple of these, particularly Verse 6 says, For the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth, cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. And then, Verse 12, and not to, or verse nine, rather, not to just pick a couple of spots, but it says, verse nine, then shalt thou understand righteousness, judgment, and equity, yea, every good path.

Again, we can understand the language of it. It has to be revealed to us, and when wisdom is sought after in wisdom, the Lord Himself by His Spirit reveals the meaning of things, then we have wisdom. And as it says here, we'll understand righteousness and judgment and equity, yea, every good path. And the tendency and the desire towards these things, God puts in his people, as it says over in 1 John, it speaks about God's people, by his working, God's people understand brotherly love. They will have that for one another because they have those things in common. They're the same family now, spiritually speaking. And some things you just know that God just reveals to you and puts those things in us and those desires in us. And one of those is that these things are pleasant to thy soul, to see what the Lord has and the true wisdom that he has.

in Proverbs chapter 3. And this is, I would highly recommend as the rest of Scripture and as Psalm 119 bears time of reading and meditating in, the book of Proverbs is, it's not just telling you how to raise your children or to treat people right in business. It does mention those things, There are good things that people could take from here, but they bear a lot heavier to the spiritual things than just the physical. And the physical thing, God's people want to live right. They want to do things the right way and to be upright in that manner in conversation, but they bear to the spiritual as well or more than they do to the physical.

And in chapter three, starting with verse 1. It says, My son, forget not My law, but let thine heart keep My commandments. For length of days, and long life, and peace shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of thine heart. So shall thy find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord, verse 5, with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

And it goes on, that's not all of the good points in any of these passages, but to speak to what we're talking about here, it says, lean, just a minute, let me find it there. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding."

There's a lot of times that we need some advice, we need some judgment. We go to our pastor, we go to others and stuff, and to put some light or help put some light on things, but here it says, lean not into thine own understanding. Sometimes our own understanding's not square, but I think that's one good reason to be in the Word, to see if If we understand something that's not quite right, the word is, it's like was mentioned about taking things out of context. Sometimes we have an idea about something that by seeing what the rest of scripture has to say, that straightens us out, that straightens out what our thinking is and squares us up with what the scripture says.

in chapter 4. Just three verses out of this, and this is another good spot The first couple of verses say, Hear ye, children, the instruction of a father, and attend to no understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. And then verse 7 says, Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding."

And that, I think that's key to the scripture, not just to read for the sake of the volume, which we do spend time in his word, but where it says here, wisdom is the principle thing. Wisdom in a worldly sense is a good thing, and like I said, wisdom is the proper use of knowledge, and here where this speaks about particularly in spiritual things, this This only comes from above. We can only understand spiritual things from above.

The passage that says, the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. You can't take God's word and apply it to just to the carnal mind without spiritual understanding, and it's not subject to that. It's not subject to that. We are subject to His Word. We are subject to all the Word that He gives us, and He gives us that understanding and that wisdom. And it says, Get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding. And I think that all of God's people pray that when we approach the Word, that it gives us that understanding, that we understand or write what that is talking about and who it is talking about.

In chapter 5, just around the corner here, chapter 5, a couple of verses, it says, verse 1 and 2, My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding, that thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge."

Again, it says, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding. And again, that That is from above, and that's the source and the constant that we have is that He is the one that reveals those things to us.

And then one more spot in Proverbs chapter 7. And by no means that that's the end of what Proverbs has to say about what we're talking about for today. Starting with verse 1 in chapter 7 of Proverbs, it said, My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind then upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman, that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

and here speaking again, lay up His words. It's not just lay up the ten words, the ten commandments on the tables of stone, but all of God's Word to His people are His communication to us.

And as we looked at them the first time we looked at Psalm 119, those ten different words that all have to do with with God speaking to us in the scriptures that we have and we hold in our hands. The commandments, the ways, the statutes, all those different words that are used through Psalm 119 to deal with God speaking to us.

And God, indeed, we hold his word in our hands, and he speaks through that word to us. And one thing about being in the word and being in all of the scripture is we are strangers, and you've heard this thinking before, we are strangers wandering, but we're not lost. we have a guide and map to the path marked out. And that's the scriptures that we hold them in, that we spend time in them, and God reveals himself through that.

And then in 2 Timothy, turn to the book of 2 Timothy. Just a couple more thoughts that I want to touch on this second section here of Psalm 119.

In 2 Timothy 2, and we're not going to exhaust the thoughts of this by any means, but in 2 Timothy 2 starting with verse 15, And we know these words, we've heard these and they've been up on the wall and plaques and stuff and referred to many times over the years, but they have a real meaning and not just a catchy thought.

2 Timothy 2.15 and following, it says, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eateth doth a canker of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some.

Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor.

" Verse 21, if a man therefore purge himself of these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also useful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by Him at His will.

" And here quite a description that follows this study to show thyself approved, and it doesn't mean that we figure it out and God takes much notice of how bright we're getting. but that I think where it says, to show thyself approved unto God, that the new birth, as it says, as babes desire the sincere milk of the word, I think that's what they're speaking to here, that being in God's word shows that there's life there, that there is life there, that we desire to have his word and understand his word. as it talks about the knowledge, and here it talks about attributes that the Lord indeed epitomized the attributes of that it speaks down through here, but that these are intended for us to head that direction and desire those things. As Paul said, we fall far short of all this, but the desire is Put in his people by the new birth to do these things

and then in chapter 3 of 2nd Timothy while we're here And starting with the first verse of chapter 3 of 2 Timothy, it says, This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts. ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

And these verses up above here, it says that in the last days these will come. This is described from day three, just about. Very shortly in Adam's life, after the fall, these things came into play. And we've seen, this is just a description of what natural man's heart is like. May not be permitted to be to the worst degree of all these things, but this is what man's heart is like.

And down here, being in the scriptures, as it's talked about up above, verse seven here, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And natural man, that's the case. Natural man can learn a lot of things, but the knowledge of the truth is revealed from above. It's revealed from above in the spiritual realm that we can't deal with.

And then skip down to verse 14. It says, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And here, continue in those things which thou hast learned. scriptural and spiritual things that thou hast learned. And it says, being assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And it doesn't mean that you have learned them from me or from Norm or from whoever that we place store in this world. But if we have learned and known and come to any wisdom of the scriptures, any true knowledge of the Lord himself, And it says, being assured of whom I have learned them, we've learned them from Him, from the Lord Himself, and not from our doing.

And then, by way of kind of wrapping up this thought this morning, We must remember always that it's the Spirit that gives life. It's the life that is in the new man that has a desire and the affinity for God's Word. And I think we have to remember this always when we're dealing with ourselves or with others. It's God that gives life. And indeed, it's His sovereign dispensing to his people. The natural man is not subject to God's word and indeed cannot be. The new birth causes the desire to know, to understand, and to meditate on the scriptures. And that's kind of what we've been reading through and what it says here.

Again, if the Word of God is only in our Bibles on the shelf, and that's kind of thinking back to that other thought, that should not be so. Of course, we never read as we should or meditate on the Word as we should. We do need to be in the Word. It says that the Word should dwell in us. We should know God's word and perchance his spirit will shine and light of his truth upon it. Lord, have us to be in your word and reveal yourself to us, direct our path in the way we should go. And that's going to be a continuing theme down through Psalm 119 and Proverbs and the rest of the scriptures.

And with that, we'll move on to verse 17 next time, Lord willing. Thank you.