Psalm 119. I think we'll only have two more
after this, and Lord willing, after we finish Psalm 119, I
think I'm going to do what I did with the high school kids out
of the sermon at Capernaum in John chapter six. Psalm 119. Beginning in 1, verse
153. Consider mine affliction and deliver me. For I do not
forget thy law. Plead my cause. and deliver me,
quicken me according to thy word. Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they seek not thy statutes. Great are thy tender mercies,
O Lord, quicken me according to thy judgments. Many are my persecutors and mine
enemies, yet Do I not decline from thy testimonies? I beheld
the transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy word.
Consider how I love thy precepts. Quicken me, O Lord, according
to thy loving kindness. Thy word is true from the beginning. and every one of thy righteous
judgments endureth forever. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
Lord Jesus Christ. How beautiful, how perfect is
his salvation. Lord, we ask that you would give
us the grace to behold his beauty and to behold his complete sufficiency
that we need nothing else. how we thank you for him. Lord,
we pray for your blessing on this time. We pray for your presence,
that you would speak to each heart here from your word according
to your will. Lord, we confess our sin. We
pray for forgiveness and cleansing for Christ's sake. We pray for
all your people wherever they meet together. Lord, we pray
for your blessing on the Vacation Bible School this week. We pray
that you would cause your word to take root in the hearts of
our children. Bless us for the Lord's sake.
Accept our thanksgiving in Christ and we pray. Amen. Consider, look upon my affliction. Look upon my poverty. Look upon
my misery. That's what he means. Look upon
my depression. Look upon my affliction. Now this is the noun form of
the verb bow down, humbled. brow beating. That's what's going
on. And the psalmist says, consider,
look down upon mine affliction. Now, I think it's very interesting.
He doesn't say consider and look down upon me because of how good
I've been. Nothing like that. He says, look
down upon me because of my misery, because of my poverty, because
of my sinfulness, my affliction. I think of what David said in
Psalm 25, 11. He said, pardon my iniquity. Because it's not really all that
bad. Not at all. Pardon my iniquity for it is
great That was the plea of the psalmist and this is what's going
on here the psalmist says consider mine affliction and Deliver me
for I do not forget thy law Now what all does that mean? Well,
I don't forget that it requires perfection I don't forget that I can't provide
that. And I don't forget the only way
I can stand just before that law is by what you do for me. I don't forget thy law. That's
why I need you to consider me. That's why I need your mercy,
because I don't forget your law. Verse 154, he asked for three
things. And I hope the Lord will give
us the grace to ask these things right with him. He says, plead
my cause, deliver me, quicken me according to thy word. Plead my cause. This is the third time he makes
this request in the Psalms. He said this in Psalm 35 one
and Psalm 43 one, plead my cause. Now this is a law term. It says,
be my attorney, be my representative, bring me into the presence of
the Lord. Plead my cause. In 1 John chapter 2, verses 1
and 2, we read, these things write unto you, that you sin
not. resonates in our hearts, there's
never an excuse for sin under any condition. And when I say
that, I'm aware of my own sinfulness. When I say that, I just almost
feel like a hypocrite saying it, and I'm sure you would too.
But still, this is what the scripture says. These things write unto
you that you sin not. But if any man sin, we have an
advocate, a lawyer with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Now that's what he's talking
about when he's talking about plead my cause. Now let me say
something about our glorious lawyer. He's never lost a case. And he
doesn't have the potential to lose one. Don't you want a lawyer
like that? I sure do. He's never lost a
case. The judge is his father. That
means something, doesn't it? Oh, the father is pleased with
him. And he is righteous. And he pleads nothing but his
righteousness. That's all he's got to plead.
And he makes all of his clients plead guilty. every single one
of them, guilty as charged, and he makes them all stand before
the law as having never sinned. Justified, not guilty. Now, can you understand why David's
saying, plead my cause? I want him to plead my cause,
don't you? I want him representing me. I don't want to have anything
to do with a holy God apart from my lawyer, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a lawyer. Plead my cause. I know Bruce Crabtree, I mean,
listen to the message. I've heard many good things about
it from Sunday night, but I remember him saying, I felt so overwhelmed
and I fell toward my bed saying, plead my cause. As soon as I
said that, I felt the weight going. The Lord pleading my cause. And then the next thing he says
is, deliver me. And that is the word, really redeem me. Redeem me. Be a kinsman redeemer
to me. Redeem me from my iniquities.
I can't redeem myself. Redeem me. Being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Oh, redeem me. I can't redeem
myself, I can't make a sin payment for myself, I can't make up for
anything. I'm asking that you would redeem
me. And then the third thing he asks for, and this is the
first of three times he asks for this, quicken me, raise me
from the dead. I'm dead, I feel dead, quicken
me, raise me from the dead according to thy word. Now this is so important. Now I'm not asking you to do
these things except that you said you'd do them in your word.
Do as thou hast said. This is what your word has taught,
and I'm asking you to quicken me according to how you said
you'd do it in your word. Plead my cause, redeem me, and
quicken me all according to thy word. Now he says in verse 155,
salvation is far from the wicked, For they seek not thy statutes. Salvation is far from the wicked,
and here is how their wickedness is seen. They don't seek your
statutes. They don't have any value in
what you say. They don't care. They're like
Esau. He sold his birthright, his relationship
with God for a He didn't care. It was of no value to him. People
say, well, how could God hate Esau? Well, I'll tell you this,
Esau sure enough hated God. God wasn't worth a bowl of soup
to him. That's how he felt about God. No fear, no love, no more
than a bowl of soup. Somebody that doesn't care about
God, salvation's far from them. Now if the Lord is pleased to
save us, we know that we're wicked and he saved us, but the man
who has no love for God, they don't care about his statutes,
they don't care about his word, they don't care about his decrees,
they don't care about him. And he says because of that,
salvation is far from the wicked. For they seek not thy statutes,
verse 156. Great. are thy tender mercies, O Lord,
quicken me according to thy judgments. Now, the tender mercies of the
Lord are the mercies David spoke of in Psalm 51, my favorite Psalm. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blot out my sin. Oh, that's what I want to be
done with my sin. I want him to blot it out by
his tender mercies that are found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
that a wonderful thing to think about, that my sin just being
blotted out by the blood of Christ, by the tender mercies of God,
blotted out, made to be no more? Great are thy tender mercies,
O Lord. Now here's the second time he
asked for the Lord to quicken him. Quicken me, give me life
according to thy judgments. The first time he says, give
me life according to your word. And I love that. I mean, it's
what the word teaches. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. That's the way I want to be quickened,
according to his word. But here he says, quicken me
according to your judgments. And that's talking about the
judgments of the cross. I'm asking him to quicken me because of
his judgments in the cross. And turn to Ephesians chapter
2. Hold your finger there and this will tell us what this means. Verse 1, and you hath he quickened who
were dead. in trespasses and sins. Now look
in verse 4. hath quickened us together with
Christ. And here's the point. When Christ
was quickened, when he was given life from the dead, every believer
was too. And he's asking the Lord to quicken
him according to the great judgments of the cross. Quicken me for
Christ's sake. Quicken me because of what he
accomplished on Calvary Street. Now, what a plea that we make
all the time. Quicken me according to thy judgments. Verse 157. Many are my persecutors. and mine enemies. And the first thing that comes
to my mind with regard to my enemies is my sin. And you know, you can only look
at your sin as your enemy in light of someone who's been quickened
and given life. You have a nature, a holy nature,
that finds your sin, your old man, harassing you as your enemy. at your experience. The only
way you can even look at this properly is in light of the two
separate natures every believer has. The flesh lusts against
the spirit. Now that's not talking about
the Holy Spirit. That's talking about the spiritual nature you're
given in the new birth, this new man. The flesh lusts against
the spirit. The spirit lusts against the
flesh. These are contrary one to the
other. Harass, that's a good way to,
my sins are ever before me, they harass me. Enemies of the gospel,
enemies of how God saves sinners, many are my enemies and my persecutors. Yet do I not decline from thy
testimonies. Now what's this all about? He
says, I've got these persecutors, these enemies, but I don't decline
from my testimonies. 2 Timothy 1, 8 and 9, be not ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. Don't miss that word, testimony. He's talking about his testimonies.
Be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according
to the power of God. Now here's what that testimony
is. He saved us. That's God's testimony. Oh, I
can't incline from that because it's the only hope I have. That
he saved me. I didn't save myself. I didn't
contribute. He did it all. And with my persecutors and my
enemies, my sins, the only hope I have is in God's testimony.
I'm not going to decline from that. He saved us and he called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Now, I can't declined from that
because it's the only hope I have. That all my salvation is found
in that testimony that he saved me even before he called me.
You know what that means? That means salvation doesn't
have anything to do with something I've done to make it happen.
It happened before I was born. That's the only complete salvation
by grace, isn't it? There is no other salvation.
And he says, I'm not declining from thy testimony. I find my
only hope in that. Verse 158, I beheld the transgressor and
was grieved because they kept not thy word. Now, our sin against God grieves
us. When we see the sin in others
against God, because it's against God, it grieves us. We can't be indifferent about
sin. And when I see the sin in others,
I better see that the sin in myself is worse than the sin
in them. If I look at the sin of others
and sit in a judgmental condescending look down my nose at them, I'm
totally being hypocritical. Amen. The sin in myself, the sin in
others. I don't want to be desensitized
towards sin, particularly in myself. I'm coming close to having
the right attitude about sin when I see myself as the chief
of sinners, Todd, not somebody else, Todd. I hope all of us
get hold of that. Don't be desensitized towards
sin in yourself or others. It's against God. And that's
why he says, I was grieved. Remember a few 20 or 30 verses
ago, he said, rivers of water come down my eyes because they
keep not the law. May the Lord give us this attitude. I beheld the transgressors and
was grieved because they kept not thy word. They had no love
for your word. Now look at what he says in verse
159. Consider how I love thy precepts. Now those are first of all the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that. Nobody loved the
precepts of God like he did. But this is the psalmist saying
this as well. Consider how we love your word. You know, we sang in Vacation
Bible School this week, the B-I-B-L-E, yes, that's the book for me. And it is. I love his word because
it reveals who he is. I love his word because I don't
have to be dependent upon men's thoughts. We've got the Word
of God. Aren't you thankful for the Word?
I love His Word. I love what His Word teaches.
His Word teaches me who He is. His Word teaches me who I am.
His Word teaches me of the salvation that's in Christ Jesus. I love
His precepts. I love His Word. You know, I
really believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word
of God. I really do believe that, and
I'm so thankful for God's revelation of himself. We love the word
of God, and that's what he says. Consider how I love thy precepts,
and here's the third time he asks to be quickened. How many times do you, I mean,
when you wanna pray, Lord, quicken me so I can pray. I need your
quickening. I need you to give me life. I
can't pray, I can't read your word unless you quicken me. I
need you to give me the grace to read your word so I get something
out of it and I'm able to worship you. I need you to quicken me
so I can hear the gospel. When I come in to hear the gospel,
oh, quicken me, give me life so I hear with hearing ears.
I can't hear unless you quicken me. I can't preach apart from
his quickening grace. There's no way I can preach the
gospel. It'll fall flat unless the Lord is pleased to quicken
the words. And so three times in this passage
of scripture, this one eight verse stanza, he says, quicken
me. Now the first time he says, quicken
me according to your word. The second time, he says, quicken
me according to your judgments, the cross. And here he says,
quicken me according to thy loving kindness. The Old Testament word
for grace. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, according
to thy lovingkindness." Not according to anything in me, but according
to thy lovingkindness, your grace. Quicken me. Quicken me, O Lord, according
to thy lovingkindness. Now, the last thing he says is
about the word once again. Thy word is true from the beginning. and every one of thy righteous
judgments endureth forever. I love this celebration of the
word. It's true from the beginning. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And I love the fact that God
in that verse is in the plural. The one God in three persons. In the beginning, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit created the heavens and
the earth. You know, I find joy in that.
Everything we believe is in that first verse, isn't it? In the
beginning, God. Not gods as in their three gods,
but one God in three persons. The Bible is about God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and their great salvation. The Father electing, the Son
redeeming, and the Holy Spirit giving life. John 1 in the beginning
was the Word. The Word was there in the beginning.
The Word was before the beginning because the Word is eternal,
the Lord Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God as a distinct person, but the Word was God. I love saying this, Jesus Christ
is not like God, He is God. Oh, how glorious He is. Thy Word is true from the beginning,
and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. Now,
this is talking about the cross, his righteous judgments. His
righteousness is demonstrated in condemning somebody. They
killed his son. If God sends me to hell, I'm
getting what I richly deserve because I've been somebody who
has been guilty of the murder of his son. Somebody says, well,
I just I don't believe that about me. Well, it's true anyway, if
you don't believe it or not. That's true. That's what God
holds us guilty of. But if he saves me. It's altogether
righteous. I actually deserve his salvation
because I have no sin. He put it away. I have the very
righteousness of Christ. It's my personal righteousness
before God. It's a righteous judgment. My
salvation will be a righteous salvation. You see, the gospel
declares the righteousness of God. Now look what he says, thy
word is true from the beginning and every one of thy righteous
judgments are eternal. They endure forever. Now, Christ is called, and this
is the way I can't look at the Bible in any other way. This
is where my comfort comes from. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. the Lamb having been slain from
the foundation of the world. That means before I was ever
around there, the Savior was actually accomplishing my salvation.
That lets me know that all of salvation has nothing to do with
my works because it's eternal. All the works, the writer to
the Hebrews said in Hebrews 4, 3, all the works were finished. from the foundation of the world. I love his righteous judgments
because they are eternal, just like everything with regard to
God. He is eternal. We read of eternal redemption,
eternal salvation, eternal judgment, eternal inheritance, eternal
life, eternal glory. Now, here's why I love this.
Number one, because it's true. And number two, The only way
you believe in salvation and all of grace is if you believe
in an eternal salvation that He accomplished without my contribution. Okay, amen.