Okay, in Psalm 119, again this morning, and let me get there. Psalm 119, and we're going to look at the fourth section in the 119th Psalm, verses 25 through 32, and the Hebrew alphabet for it there, Daleth, or Dayleth. Let's read these eight verses to start with before we look to them.

A little closer, it says, My soul, verse 25, cleaveth unto the dust, quicken thou me according to thy word. I have declared my ways, and thou hurtest me. Teach me thy statutes. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts, so that I shall talk of thy wondrous works. My soul melteth for heaviness. Strengthen thou me according to thy word. Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth, thy judgments have I laid before me. I have stuck unto thy testimonies, O Lord, put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

Several things that we're going to notice today, and we'll be another time finishing up our look at this section, but today It's in some of the points of note from this section. Remember that this eight-verse section is part of the whole of Scripture and part of the whole of the continuing of Psalm 119. Again, as we mentioned before, the psalmist pleads and prays to the Lord to provide those things that are needed in the Christian life, both now and ever. And that's, as this psalm has been in the first sections we've looked at, it's a song, a psalm, a prayer of of the psalmist and of all believers that we turn to the Lord for those things that are necessary, both our redemption, those things that he has done for our redemption, but those things that as we carry on, as we are in the way, as it were, and the continued needs that we have. The points that are made, and we're going to look at some of these over time, the points that are made down through this are, quicken thou me according to thy word, teach me thy statutes, make me to understand the way of your precepts, strengthen me according to thy word, remove from me the way of lying, grant me those things, put me not to shame, and when thou shalt enlarge my heart, these things will be done," it says, according to these things.

And there was one, and I don't know the time frame of this, but a man named Theodore Kubler, German, I assume, that being this is the fourth section, the fourth letter, and he's as a D, he paraphrased these as depressed to the dust, quicken me, declared have I my way, declare thou the way, dropping is my soul for heaviness, deceitful ways removed from me, determined upon the way am I, deliberately have I stuck to thy testimonies, and day by day will I run.

And he paraphrased those eight points as these verses in that way to put them all with Ds, and I liked how he did that. things to keep in mind or that we get from this and that we can relate to is, we're but dust. He starts out this, and the soul cleaveth unto the dust. And that we're dust and the feeble substance that we are made of, he's not puffed up. Remember what pit we were brought up from.

And this is at times God's people feel these different thoughts and pray these different things at different times. All things that we lack by nature and need to be provided for, that he prays for. In the new birth, can we even recognize our miserable condition by nature? Other than the new birth, we can't recognize that. as we begin to see in the scripture the need and provision for our redemption. It's only in the new birth that some of these thoughts even come to mind, that we would even pray or ask these things.

We're going to look at several scriptures that speak to this, but we are reminded of ourselves, what we are made of, what we are like. In our redemption in Christ alone and Him only, and we have the desire for him and to see him as altogether lovely.

Turn to the Song of Solomon, if you would. Let me get there. Song of Solomon chapter five. And we went through the Song of Solomon a number of years ago, and this is one of the places that sticks out to us in this passage. But it was, there were those that were asking the one, what was yours, your beloved more than another? And it goes down through this chapter five and that, You know, what's so special about this one?

And it goes down through and relates what our Lord is like and His characteristics in some of the attributes of Him. And then it says in verse 16, It says, his mouth is most sweet. Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved. And this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

And it goes down and speaks more about him and the rest of Song of Solomon, but that verse, he's altogether lovely, that there's no shortcoming in him as far as what he is. what he provides to his people in these things, and what is prayed for by the psalmist here, that he is the only source of these things that we can turn to, must turn to.

In Acts 17, turn to the book of Acts. We're going to be in a couple of places here. But Acts 17, and we will get to there in Acts 17 in the study someday. But right now in Acts chapter 17 and verse, This is Paul on Mars Hill, and he was addressing who the unknown God was. They had a monument and an altar or what have you to the unknown God. And he says, I'm going to tell you about the unknown God that you have here.

And it started with verse 25, and it says, Not only God made the world and all things, but it says, neither is he worshiped with men's hands as though he needeth anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell in the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. for in him we live and move and have our being, as certain of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.

But here in verse 28 where it says, in him, speaking of the Lord himself, we live and move and have our being, both physically and, of course, spiritually. But not only do we have our sustenance in the physical bread, but as we've seen in what the Scripture says about him being the bread of life, the true bread of life and not just in a physical manner. As he provided food in a physical sense for the crowds and whatnot there, he was much more than that, and he is much more than that. But he is the source of life and the source of all of our needs that are fulfilled. And then there in Psalm 119, asking for those things to be done because of our shortcomings, He is the one that's able to do that.

And we, in the new birth, and as it says in Jeremiah, after the Lord puts a new heart in you, then you're going to realize a few things. Not before that. You're spiritually dead before that. We can't realize or understand any spiritual things or facts or truths about ourselves or about God Himself, we start to realize that in our sinful nature and lack of ability that whether in this flesh or our mind, the only source we can look to and depend upon is the Lord Himself. the only one we can turn to, indeed, the only one in which we do live and move and have our being, and assurance that He has raised Him from the dead.

And the assurance we have in that, in Acts 17, verse 31 says, Howbeit, certain men claimed to him and believed among the witch was Dionysius the Eropagite, the woman named Demarius, and others. And that is obviously the, oh, I'm sorry, verse 31 of that same chapter.

It says, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And the Lord himself raised from the dead. That is the assurance that—a couple of things. When he raised him from the dead, the sacrifice was accepted It was not only the true sacrifice, but it was the acceptable sacrifice, and in that he raised him from the dead, we have the assurance that in him that we do have all we need and required for for the redemption of our souls and for not only for the new birth, but in our life going on from that.

It's not a one and done thing as far as in the flesh. we need daily, we need His, all these things that the scriptures say, and here in this Psalm 119, those things that were desired of God's people, those are the things that we, we lack those things, and we need those on a daily basis, and we are sure short-sighted and short of memory, and it's just that we have to depend on him.

Back in Psalm 119, in verse 25, it says, my soul cleaveth unto the dust, quicken thou me according to thy word. And there's, I find that there's a lot written on verse 25 of this section. There's a lot written on all the scriptures, but by men, by commentators and those scholars and whatnot. And in looking into this, I saw 17 different commentators from old time that had comment on this verse, on this, and a lot of them had the same thought to offer, and some of them were different, but by and large, It says in these, in the first four verses of this, 25 to 28, it says, our voice, the feeling of the weight of our nature in the flesh and the desire to be, to be relieved of it.

He says, quicken me according to thy word when we are of the dust of the earth and made of feeble stuff. And that's kind of the thought of most of those other scholars, the ones that we looked at, that I looked at, or that were considered, that where it says, cleaveth under the dust, he's made of dust. And we're made of that stuff. And it says, he was feeling the weight of this as we do. And it says, quicken thou me according to thy word. And that is what we depend on. That's what we lean to, is to him that he has done this.

Turn to the Book of Romans, if you would. We're looking at a couple of spots here, but in Romans, Book of Romans, in Chapter 7. In Romans, Chapter 7, and I'd like to Romans 7, and starting with verse 4, it says, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work on our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now, verse 6, now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. And up above it is speaking about being in the law, and it talks about a woman bound to a husband, And that thought there about adultery and whatnot, but here it starts in verse 4 and speaks about, we're dead to the to the law by the body of Christ. And then, verse 5, when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work on our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

By nature, that's the only fruit, that's the only fruit that is going to come on that plant is bad fruit by that. And it says in verse 6, now we are delivered from that, being dead when we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. And where it says here, newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter. And that's where the rub comes.

That's where the weight comes in, is we can follow letters of things, we can do things, And, but we can't, we can't We can't change our heart. We can't, of our own strength, lift ourselves up. And as it says here, that he was in the dust. He was feeling the weight of that.

And all believers feel that at times, our deadness, spiritual deadness, and the desires that we should have that are just not always there from time to time. But as we look to Him to quicken us and do that, that makes a big difference. We have that hope, and we have Him as our all, and provides the all. If we didn't have that hope, What's the scripture say? If in this life only we have hope, we're most miserable, because it's beyond that.

It's not as we look at ourselves, and it's looking to Him. We see the needs we have, and we had the one that came and preached here one time, and one of the thoughts that we picked up on that is when he said, You have to get your face out of your belly button. You're not inward looking. It's to Him who we look to that we have that.

If we look at ourselves in this life, it doesn't get better in a lot of ways. Spiritually, it is life. We bear about the body all the time, the flesh, and not just the physical flesh, but the mind and those things that are still in the flesh, barring him lifting us out of that and cooking us from that and making us to understand some things. And then also in here in Romans chapter 7, talks about the newness of the Spirit in chapter 7, and then starting in verse 18, And I'd like to read this down, 18 through 25, and it's very common, or very familiar passage to us, but it says in Romans 7, starting with verse 18.

For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would do I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more that I do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

And I think this passage is looked at by a lot of people, and it's I think sometimes is taken as an out or a way to justify how we are in the flesh. And he's not saying that here. Paul's just saying that in the flesh And it doesn't mean in the hands, flesh necessarily, but in the mind that we have of our own, we just can't worship as we should. We can't even, we can't pray as we should or as we desire to, but he does help our infirmities, said the Spirit does in that. But here, when he says, I delight in the law of God after the inward man.

And that's the, in the new birth, that's the only way that can come about. And that's the only way that, not only can that come about that we realize those things, but that, like say it's a law that in the flesh, we're unprofitable, in the flesh. In the spirit, We stand in Him complete. In all ways, we are complete.

We're still, as he says, who's gonna save me and deliver me from the body of this death? And the Lord himself is the only answer to that. And I think in the Psalm 119, he's voicing that, what Paul is voicing in words that were given different, that sound different, that were given in a psalm, in poetry or song type. verse, but he's saying that David or the psalmist is saying the same things, that in the flesh we need, as we saw here, we need quickened, we need taught, we need understanding, we need strength according to the Word, His Word, And it says, these things are only done, and he's the one that enlarges the heart and enlarges the understanding of these things. And I think that's what Paul is saying here. It's only in the new birth, in the Lord himself, That's the hope we have.

It's not in this flesh. The flesh doesn't get the job done, but the picture here, we're still in the flesh. We're not of the flesh in that way. We have higher desires than what the flesh is. But the reality is, here's where we are. And sometimes as we read this, sometimes it is more to the forefront than other times.

It's like, I think it's like when you have a lot of stuff to do around the house or in your life and you're so busy, you don't you're overwhelmed by it, and you just—and then maybe the next day everything is—you've taken care of everything you're supposed to do, and everything is done, and everything is fine for now, and then the next week, it's all piled on you again.

And I think that's the same picture here, renewed in the Spirit in Christ and in the flesh and delivered from that by Christ. And then in verse chapter eight, I'd like to look at a few verses in chapter 8, just continuing from the thought that after he says that Christ is the answer, he's the deliverance from the mind of the flesh, and not only the physical things that he takes from us and changes, but the mind and the thought.

But in chapter 8 of Romans, It says, There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

And here, this is a continuation from chapter 7, when he says, here's where I am by nature, my abilities and inabilities, and how bad the picture looks there, but then it starts out in continuation of that in chapter 8, verse 1. No condemnation that you're in them, that are in Christ Jesus, walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And that's The thought doesn't stop at the end of chapter seven. It's going on here about that.

And it says, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death. Because of him, it says, because of what the law could not do, weak to the flesh, God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. The thought of that isn't just saying that he pointed out sin in the flesh and said it was a bad thing. No, by his life, he was the only one that did not have that in his life. And his life was the perfect life by a perfect one, that there was no sin in, and that condemned sin in the flesh was not right. He has taken care of that. He has brought that to light.

And then it says, They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. It says, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. He's speaking about in the flesh as the mind, the sinful mind that we have by nature, what our thoughts are. And I'd like to just read 9, 10, and 11.

It says, But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. And that's the key to it, and the answer to it here is in Christ be in you. The Spirit is life, it says, because of righteousness, His righteousness.

And He's put that on us. We have been imputed His righteousness, not anything that we had. And that is the standing we have where it said up above, there's no condemnation. We see our side of it still. We don't see the job is done yet, but it's done. in Him that our redemption is complete. We have all things in Him that we'll ever have in the Spirit and in the truth, but not as we see it day to day in our flesh. and only He can remind us of that. But we can't please Him in the flesh, but we're quickened.

And that's what there in Psalm 119, that verse starts out, quicken me and put us on those things and those thoughts that are above and not just looking at ourself and looking at Him. in John chapter 6. Turn to John chapter 6. We're going to read this.

John chapter 6, and starting with verse 66, He's talking about the Lord is speaking about himself as the true manna and the true bread of life. And I'd like to read. starting with verse 66, it says, From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said unto the twelve, Will you also go away? And Simon Peter answered unto him, Lord, to whom shall we go?

Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. And this This was given to him from above and not of his own thoughts, but that he is, as it says here, we believe and are sure that Christ, the Son of the living God, that he has the words of eternal life, as Peter said. And Peter speaks not only for himself, but for the church and for the group there. This is who we believe that you are, that you've revealed yourself to us, that the church indeed can't go anywhere else but to Him, as it says there.

Verse 25, quicken thou me. And it goes on and says again in that section in Psalm 119, make me to understand thy way, and my soul melteth. Strengthen of me according to thy word. And when we feel that and when that is brought up to us, the spiritual weight of our nature, we look to Him and according to His word. And I would like to close this morning by just a couple of things. One of them is a thought, and I liked how this was worded by Brother Hawker speaking about this, It says, O for grace everlastingly to be sending forth the prayer of faith to be quickened with continued renewings in Christ Jesus.

The melting of soul and enlargement of the heart are sweet and gracious feelings when under divine influences. Lord, I would say, grant these blessed effects from day to day in Christ Jesus, that we seek these things from him, from the Lord himself. And then, in 1 Thessalonians, I thought, It's not the only place for this thought, but in First Thessalonians, chapter one, I'm sorry, chapter five. First Thessalonians five. starting with verse 8, 1 Thessalonians 5,

8. It says, But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation.

For God hath not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do. And I'm going to stop there. But edify, and as it says above, we're not appointed to wrath. We see sometimes tough times of ourself, of how we see ourselves, but it says here that in Him, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as all shall ye do. And I think that's the The takeaway, at least from part of this this morning, is that in Him we comfort each other and the hope we have in Him. And when we see ourselves as that Psalm shows us what we are like and what we feel at times, we're in the dust, that's not where we are in Him. That's where we may be for a season, but in Him, We are lifted up and we have all those things, that comfort that comes from him. And in a couple of weeks, we'll pick up this spot again. Thank you for your attention and be free.