Lord, how we thank you for who
you are. How we thank you for the salvation
that's in your son. How we thank you for his perfect
obedience, his sin atoning death. Lord, we ask in his name that
you would be pleased to meet with us and speak to our hearts
for Christ's sake. Bless our time together. Forgive
us of our sins for Christ's sake. May we be found in Him. Be with
all your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's name
we pray, amen. Hold your finger in Psalm 119
and turn to John chapter 17. John chapter 17, these are the
words of the Lord. Let's begin in verse one, John
chapter 17. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. And this is life eternal. that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee. If I'm saved by the grace of
God, I know the living God. And I know his son, Jesus Christ. And when I'm talking about that,
I'm not talking about name dropping. I'm talking about if I know him,
that means he knows me. He calleth his own sheep by name. Now, with regard to my knowledge
of Christ, me knowing him, he's so vast, he's so incomprehensible,
he's so, for lack of a better word, big, I don't feel like
I know him the way I want to, and even the way I ought to.
But I do know him. I do know him. So does every
other believer alive. They know the living God and
the reason we know him is because he's made himself known. I think
with what Paul said, I know whom I have believed. He didn't say
I know what I believed, I know whom I have believed. And what
we believe is completely dependent upon who we believe. When I hear something that is
not him, I know it. When I hear something that's
wrong, contrary to his attributes, I know it, because I know him.
That is the point, I know him. Now, I love the Psalms where
it's obviously him speaking, and this is one of them, because
we get to know more of his character, more of his person through these
Psalms. Now, if this Psalm was only The
writer to the Psalm speaking, I wouldn't have any hope that
I even knew the Lord. Look at the things he says in verse 106, Psalm 119, 106. I have sworn
and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments.
Now, the only person who can say this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is Christ speaking. This is not any man making a
claim like this. If some man would make a claim
like this, all he would prove by that is his ignorance of his
own sinfulness. I promise I'm never gonna do
this wrong, I'm gonna perform it, I'm never gonna commit that
sin, I'm gonna perform this. If a man said that, all he would
be saying is, I have no idea of who I really am. Look in verse
10, 110 I mean. The wicked have laid a snare
for me, yet I heard not from thy precepts. Could you say that?
I heard not from thy precepts. Look in verse 111, thy testimonies
have I taken as an heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of
my heart. I have inclined mine heart to
perform thy statutes always, even unto thee, and I've inclined
my heart to perfect obedience. Can you say that with regard
to yourself? I mean, look within your heart.
You know this could not possibly be describing you. These are
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ with regard to his own personal
glorious obedience. And here's what is even more
glorious about this, this obedience we're reading of that he performed
before his father, that is the righteousness that every believer
possesses. His obedience, his law keeping,
his righteousness is the only ground of salvation. Now let's look at this again, verse 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path. Now this is said by the one who
wrote the scriptures. The Bible is divinely inspired,
2 Timothy 3, 16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
And I say this often, but I think it's worth saying, somebody says,
how can I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God?
If God can create the universe, which he did, he can inspire
men to write a book and keep it preserved. And the fact of
the matter is, if we don't have the Bible, all we got's my opinion
and your opinion. What good's that gonna do you
or either one of us? But this is the word of God. And I love
to think of the Lord Jesus Christ reading this book that he, by
his spirit, wrote. And as a man, he said this, thy
word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light for my path. When he was faced with the temptations
of Satan, how did he answer Satan? It is written. I love that. I mean, he could
have destroyed him, tortured him, whatever he wanted to do,
he's the son of God, he could, but yet, He answers, Satan, it
is written. Now that's how important the
scriptures are. And he says, thy word is a lamp
unto my feet and a light unto my path. As a man, he studied
the scriptures and he said, they're a light to me. And I think of
the way the Lord, it's said, He grew in wisdom and stature
and in favor with men and with God. Well, how did he do that?
Well, through the reading of the scriptures. Now, I know I'm
talking about things that they're above our head, but here we go. This is the Lord speaking, and
he speaks of God's word like that. Now, look what he says
in verse 106. I have sworn and I will perform
it that I will keep thy righteous judgments. Now can you imagine
saying that? I've sworn I'm going to keep God's righteous judgments. I'm gonna keep the law. I'm going
to refrain from sin. I'm going to obey God perfectly. I've sworn it. That is what I'm
gonna do. Now we want to obey God. Don't get me wrong. But if you
have any idea of how sinful your heart is, You know that this
is beyond you to say something like this. But the Lord Jesus
Christ could say it. He said in Jonah 2, I paid what
I vowed. Now, let me remind you that we
are forbidden in scripture to say anything like this ourself.
Remember what the Lord said, I say unto you, swear not at
all. Let your yea be yea, your nay be nay, whatsoever cometh
more is of evil. That's what the Lord said. I'm
gonna read you a passage, you don't have to turn here, but it's in
James chapter five, verse 12. James says, but above all things,
my brethren, swear not. You know why you ought not swear?
Because you don't have the power to make sure you're going to
keep what you're swearing. You just don't. I just don't. That's why he says, swear not
at all. He says, above all things, above
all things, swear not at all, neither by heaven, neither by
the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea,
your nay be nay, lest you fall into condemnation. Now, me and
you are forbidden to do this, but the Lord could do this, couldn't
he? He said, I've sworn and I will
perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments. He said, lo, I come in the volume
of the book, it's written of me, I delight to do thy will,
oh God. He could say, I will perform
all of thy righteous judgments. I will render perfect obedience. And when he's talking about performing
these righteous judgments, what's he talking about? He willingly went to the cross
and performed that which he promised he would do for his father. You
know, he's called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
He created the universe to come here and die and suffer the judgments
of God so his people wouldn't have to. This is his work as
the substitute for sinners. He does this willingly. I will
perform thy righteous judgments. And how we admire his character
in this. Look in verse 107. I am afflicted very much. Quicken me, O Lord. Give me life,
O Lord, according to thy word. Now, once again, these are the
words of Christ. You and I can say this many times.
I'm afflicted very much. I realize that, but not like
he did. He was called the man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief, intimately acquainted with grief. Now why?
If he never sinned, if he never had a wrong thought, why was
he, this man, acquainted with grief? Why was he afflicted?
As a matter of fact, he said in Psalm 88, 15, I'm afflicted
from my youth. I'm greatly afflicted from my
youth. And this has to do with the Lord
always knowing that he was going to bear the sins of his people. and be forsaken by God. And what is unusual about this
is you and I just don't understand that. We believe it, but we don't
really understand that. Oh, how he hated sin, how he
hated his father's law dishonored, and yet he knew he was going
to bear it as the sinner's substitute, and feel it much more acutely
than you or I did. Somebody called me this week
and said, how could it be that the Lord, there in Hebrews 4,
he was, I'm not, Hebrews chapter 4, I'll read it to you. You know,
the older I get, the less ability I seem to have Quote the scriptures
the way I used it, well, whatever. Yeah, here it is, verse 15. For
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted, like as we
are, yet without sin. Now how could he be touched by
the feeling of our infirmities if he never sinned? He never
sinned and yet he experienced everything about sin but the
commission of it. He experienced the guilt, the
feeling of isolation, banishment from his father. He felt the
defilement of it, but he himself never sinned. And that's why
he can be so sympathetic to me or you, because he's experienced,
not by way of commission, but by way of feeling when he was
on the cross. He experienced every feeling
of guilt that you may have much more acutely. And that is amazing. He said, I am afflicted very
much. And then he says, quicken me,
O Lord, according to thy word. Now, is this something that you
pray all the time? Lord, give me life. Quicken me. That's all
the word means. Quicken me. I feel dead. I feel
lifeless. I don't feel anything. Quicken
me. Give me life. Now, the only reason
you pray, that's because you have life. People who don't have life don't
feel that way or pray that way. But when the Lord is saying quicken
me according to your word, he's talking about his afflictions
on the cross and he's asking the Lord to raise him from the
dead. Quicken me according to your word, according to what
you said you would do in your word. Once again he's saying
thy word is a light to my feet, a lamp to my path. Quicken me, O Lord, according
to thy word. Now look in verse 108. Except
I beseech thee the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach
me thy judgments. Now that word freewill is the
exact same word in Psalm 110, verse three. Thy people shall
be willing. Thy people. shall be willing
in the day of thy power. Now, I realize that we're unwilling
until he makes us willing in the day of his power, but this
is what the Lord's talking about here is his voluntary, willing
obedience, his voluntary, willingly suffering in the stead of his
people. Everything he did, he did willingly. No man takes my life from me,
he said. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it up. This
commandment of I received of my father, everything he did,
he did willingly. He willingly took my sins to
himself. He did this willingly, knowing
exactly what he was doing, knowing what it would cost him. Everything
he did, he did willingly. His obedience to his father was
willing obedience. how he delighted to do the will
of God. Accept the free will, the willing offerings of my mouth, O Lord,
and teach me thy judgments. As a man, he was completely dependent
upon the Lord to teach him. Me and you are too, aren't we? Teach me, Lord. If you don't
teach me, I won't. I hate it when people say, Lord,
trying to teach me something. He doesn't try to do anything.
If he teaches you, you're taught. And this is our desire. Lord, teach me. But the Lord
Jesus Christ is saying to his father, teach me thy judgments. And he says in verse 109, my
soul is continually in my hand. What that is talking about is
his life was constantly in danger. That's what he means by that.
My soul is continually in my hand. I'm always in danger. Now,
ultimately he was not in danger because he was the son of God. But as a man, everybody hated
him. Satan hated him. Demons hated
him. The Pharisees hated him. You
and I, by nature, hate him and would kill him if it were in
our power. That's what God has against me
and you, the murder of the Son of God, because we would do it
apart from God's grace. We would. And he said, my soul
is continually in my hand, yet, verse 109, yet do I not forget
thy law. He never forgot the perfect law
of God and His perfect obedience to it. He never forgot. Now,
me and you, how often do we forget? We might go 24 hours without
even thinking about the Lord. Get busy. He didn't. He didn't. Yet do I not forget thy law? Verse 110, the wicked have laid
a snare for me to entrap me. Now, you've had people do that
with you. People who have wanted you to
fall and wanted you to be entrapped and would rejoice in seeing you
fall. You've had that. I've had that.
Every son of Adam has that to some extent. But this is the
Lord speaking. And he had everyone wanting him
to fall. They've laid a snare for me. Didn't work, did it? He couldn't
sin. He lacked the ability to sin. Even though the wicked laid a
snare for him, he couldn't sin. Now, I've heard people argue
against that. I've heard people say, well,
if he didn't have the potential to sin, where is his obedience
then? That's foolishness. He's the
son of God. He cannot. Can God sin? No. Can God lie? No. Can the Son
of God sin? No. No. But he had everyone attempting
to cause him to sin, and that's what he's talking about. They
wanted the wicked laid snare. How many times did the Pharisees
try to entrap him in his words, trying to find inconsistencies
and contradictions in him? The wicked have laid a snare
for me, yet I erred not from thy precepts. Who's the only
one who can say this? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who could say, I erred not from thy precepts. He never
sinned. I love to think about that. In
his thoughts, in his motives, in his desires, in his actions,
he never sinned. He said, I've not erred from
thy precepts. Now look what he said in verse
111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an inheritance
forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. Thy testimonies
have I taken as an inheritance. That's what the word heritage
is. Now when you think of inheritance, When I think of inheritance,
we're generally thinking how much we're getting. How much we're getting, how much
money we're getting, what kind of property we're getting. If
you were listening to the reading of a will, if you were in it,
you'd be listening carefully. Now, if you weren't in it, you'd
probably, your mind would drift. If you're in it, you're listening
to find out what's in it for you. You know, that's the way
people ought to hear the gospel. What's in it for me? That's the
way to hear. But at any rate, when the Lord
is talking about his inheritance, what was it that he found to
be his inheritance? He says, thy testimonies, thy
word. That's how precious the word
of God was to him. He says, that's my inheritance.
That's my eternal inheritance. How glorious is the word of God
that Jesus Christ, the son of God says, this is my inheritance.
Thy testimonies, the things you've testified from your word, they
are the rejoicing of my heart. Every word the Lord would read
in this book would be the rejoicing of his heart. Now you've read
the word, no doubt, and I've read the word when I didn't get
anything out of it. And then there's times when we've read
the word when the Lord has caused it to be the rejoicing of our
heart. But every time he read the word, it was the rejoicing
of his heart, the testimonies of God. And then he says in verse
112, I have inclined my heart to perform
thy statutes always, even unto the end. Now could any, could
you say that? I've inclined my heart to perform
God's law perfectly all the way to the end. I'm not talking just
about five minutes. I'm talking about all the days of my life.
I will never sin. This is the Lord speaking. Now
here's what we say about heart inclination. Look at verse 36
of this same psalm. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies
and not to covetousness. Now what's he saying? My heart
would naturally be inclined to covetousness. That's the way
it would go, but incline my heart to your testimonies and when
we're Pray. We're asking the Lord to incline
our heart toward a certain direction. Order my steps in your word.
It's gonna go the wrong way if you don't. So incline my heart
to your testimonies and not to covetousness. But look what the
Lord says in our text. I have inclined mine heart to
perform thy statutes, to do thy statutes always even unto the
end. I've inclined my heart to perfectly
obey every commandment of God all the way to the end. Now we know those are only the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that. You know, the Lord
said, the Psalms testify of me. That's the first reading. But
here is what I find so exciting. That perfect obedience that Jesus
Christ rendered is the righteousness that I'm justified with. That's
my personal righteousness. What he did when he kept God's
law perfectly. Remember when he said to John
the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. That us is every believer. And
that perfect righteousness that he rendered that we just read
of. I have inclined my heart to perform
thy statutes always even unto thee and that's my righteousness.
Now how can that be? How can that be? My sin became
His sin. That's why He died on the cross.
My sin became His sin. And just as truly as my sin became
His sin, His righteousness becomes my personal righteousness before
God. And that sin really became His.
That's why He died. The Lord wouldn't punish him
for sins that weren't his. He died because those sins became
his. God's just. And just as truly as my sin became
his, this perfect obedience we're reading about is mine. He inclined his heart. to perform
thy statutes always, even unto the end. Now, don't you admire
the character of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God? Don't you admire
His perfect obedience? And if you do admire it, remember
this, that obedience is yours. Amen.