Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Psalm 119 and reading from
our text, verse 36. Verse 36, incline my heart unto
thy testimonies and not to covetousness. Psalm 119, verse 30. The verse that we have read as
a text is a prayer, a petition. The psalmist is asking the Lord
to do something. Asking the Lord to have power
over his own heart and to incline his heart. unto the testimonies
of the Lord and not to covetousness. Now in order to obtain that benefit
and blessing from this word I feel it is most necessary to understand
or think firstly of the word meanings in this petition. The Apostle Paul says that he'd
rather speak five words with the understanding than ten thousand
words in an unknown tongue. Sometimes we can just take for
granted that we know the meaning of words. And yet if we really
did look at the meaning, though it means so much more to us,
when we are asking things of the Lord, then we should also
be watching, watching to see that the Lord answers. And when
we ask, have an expectation as to what the Lord will do and
how. He will answer our petitions. We don't want our petitions just
to be words, meaningless words, an attitude of prayer, coming
before the Lord and yet not really knowing what we say. And so I want to then look at
the meanings of the words in our text. The first word here is incline. What does the Samas mean? What
is this word translated incline mean? Incline means to have a
tendency to something or be favorably disposed towards or willing to
do something. We could think of inclining as
leaning, leaning one way or leaning another way. But especially in
the context here, the petition is that he might have, his heart
might have, a tendency a tendency unfavourably disposed to the testimonies of the Lord. Well what does the word heart
mean? Incline my heart. He doesn't say incline my thoughts or affections but
heart. Of course we know our hearts
in a literal sense are a pump and they pump the blood around
the body. But when that is used in the
word of God It's used in a different way. The common way, of course,
of expressing the word heart is the center of something. If you have a cabbage or something
like that, the heart of that cabbage is the very center of
it. But in a way that's set before
us here, the heart is a person's deepest feelings, or their true
personality, taking in mind and soul and spirit. It is what they are really, not
superficially, not just by what they may say
or think at one time or the way they might act at one time. It is actually what they are. We hope to look a bit later at
what this really means. So a person's real true personality,
what they really are. Testimonies. What is that? Incline my heart unto what? Unto thy testimonies. But what
do we understand by that? Well, really, testimonies are
gods. heart desire, God's standard. And especially as it is described in the dictionary,
testimonies are a formal written or spoken statement. And really
all of God's heart, what truly is God, God's standard, is in
this blessed book, is revealed in the word of God, in law, in
gospel. It is all the revealed will of
God. In one sense, the psalmist is
saying, make my heart be like thy heart. Make my inmost feeling
and being, intentions and desire, be just like Thine. Make it to be a mirror of Thy
heart." What a petition, what a thing
when we think of it in that way. What is it that he does not want
to be inclined to? Covetousness. What is that? A strong desire to possess something
and especially that is belonging to another person. We think of
the holy law of God as set before us in one place or first given. in Exodus chapter 20 and the
10th commandment. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant,
nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything
that is thy neighbor's. And so the commandment is expressing
covetousness specifically in desiring something that is our
neighbor's. And really then it is gathering
in many of the other commandments as well. Thou shalt not covet
thy neighbor's wife. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
The apostle Paul, when God convinced him of sin, It was through this
commandment, thou shalt not cut it. And it brought him to feel
not as a Pharisee that he was a good man, but as a sinner. The law entered that sin might
abound. The commandment, it brought death. The commandment came, sin revived,
and I died. Sin didn't revive in the fact
that it was put there and wasn't there before, but it was to the
Apostle Paul or Saul as he was then. Sin then became a real
thing, and he became convinced of it. And it is very obvious
with the language of our text, the petition of our text, that
the psalmist knew about covetousness. He knew that his heart was by
nature inclined that way and he was seeking to the Lord to
incline it another way. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies
and not to covetousness. I wonder how we stand and how
we are this morning? Are we mindful of where our heart
is inclined by nature? And do we desire that the Lord
would incline it another way and make our heart to be like
his heart? That we have the same aim, the
same feelings, the same thoughts, the same esteem of the Word of
God. The psalmist here, how he esteemed
and extolled the Word of God, all the revelation of the Word
of God. What a solemn thing, when those
even with a profession of religion that would seek to cut about
and undermine and injure the Word of God. There's a solemn
warning at the end of it, of those that take away or add to
it, those that take away, their portion shall be taken away out
of the Lamb's Book of Life. Those that add to it, add their
own words, their own works, their own interpretations, shall be
added the curses that are in this book to them. Well, it may
be that we then can pray this prayer with understanding and
with a sincere desire that the Lord answer it in our case. Well, I want to look then with
the Lord's help a little bit more closely at the prayer that
is here. Firstly, I want to notice the
way man's fallen heart is inclined. Sama says, incline my heart unto
thy testimonies and not to covetousness. And I want to notice in this
first point that by nature, and as fallen sons of Adam, Our hearts
are inclined already, right at birth, to covetousness. Secondly, the power of God to
incline the heart another way. It's very obvious the psalmist
was not asking of the Lord something that he was not able to do, but
could clearly see God was able to have an influence and a power
over his heart. Some people would be horrified
to think that there was a power, that there was a God that could
actually move their hearts, could change them. But this is something
that the psalmist here is praying that God would do. incline my
heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness. So we look secondly at the power
of God to incline the heart another way. But then thirdly a heart
inclined unto the Lord's testimonies and to look at what that is and
in that Look at some of the examples in the Word of God. Some of the
characters that are described there that have their hearts
inclined after the Lord. But firstly, the way man's fallen
heart is inclined. Some teach that there is something
good in everyone. But we read in the book of Job
that our goodness extendeth not unto thee, but unto the saints
that are in the earth. There are those that do good
one to another. But we have got to realize the
word of God is very clear that all our righteousnesses, that
is our good works, are as filthy rags in his sight. The psalmist here is not praying
for some help in charity work or something like that. He wants to be complete oneness
with the Lord. And what we must be then very
clear of, that the word of God that he desires to be one with,
declares that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked, who can know it? That we go forth from the womb
speaking lies. There is none good, no, not one. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Our languages depart from us,
we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Our hearts, as fallen, they cast
up uncleanness and wickedness. Our Lord Jesus said, His ministry
was very clear on this. These testimonies, the word of
the Lord is set before us here in Matthew 15. And our Lord says, to those that
were finding fault that men were not washing of cups and following
the tradition of men, looking to keep the outside clean but
not worried about the inside or the heart. But our Lord said,
Do ye not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the
mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart. and they defile the
man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. And so here is the Lord. Here
is the eternal Son of God. Here is He whose heart is the
heart of God. And this is His testimony. He
that has power to change a heart knows what that heart is by nature. And this is His testimony. We
may ask ourselves right at the start, is our heart in oneness
and in accord with him? The hymn writer says, concerning
the declaration of the wickedness and sinfulness of the heart,
nor are men willing to have the truth told. The sight is too
killing for pride to behold. The sight of the evils in the
heart. Ezekiel was shown many visions,
visions of Jerusalem, visions of the holy men in Jerusalem
and the abominations that they were doing in secret. And he
said to Ezekiel, turn again, thou son of man, thou shalt see
greater abominations than these. And if the Lord has mercy on
us, he will show us what we really are. He will do like he did to
the Apostle Paul. The commandment comes, and by
the light of the commandment, by the standard of the word of
God, he is brought in as a guilty sinner. At one with what the
Lord says is our hearts by nature. so spewing forth all manner of
evil. And it is the bent of our heart. It is the way that our hearts
are inclined. Our hearts by nature are inclined
to evil. That is the way they will go
of their own selves. You cannot But observe a young
child as they begin to grow. The things that they say and
the things that they do, you think these things have not been
learned. They are actually in the heart.
The stubbornness, the rebelliousness, all the things, the deceitfulness,
it comes out very, very young. Original sin. Original sin that
causes that we, instead of being one with God, are opposite to
God. The whole work of the gospel
is to bring men to be reconciled, God and sinners. Reconciled is
the message of the gospel. But here is the condition that
is by nature. And unless God does intervene,
unless God sovereignly and mercifully intervenes, we'll go on following
that heart. The hymn 76, at peace with hell,
with God at war, In sin's dark maze we wander far, as far from
God as sheep can run. The heart is not inclined to
the things of God. It's not inclined to the Lord's
ways. It is not inclined to that which
is pure and holy and right. It's not inclined to The revelation
of God that is in the Word of God. It is inclined to covetousness. The definition really of godliness. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. But man he longs after that which
he has not got. All the time stretching forth
All saying the grass is greener the other side of the fence.
And it is so with man. Some, they have recourse to fantasy. You've only got to go to a library
and you look at the fictional section and you see it's so full
of everything that comes out of the imagination of man. that
he can imagine a life, a scene, that is so divorced or separate
from reality. And we have the desire after
the riches and things of this world, there would be no lotteries,
no quick get rich schemes, if man's heart was not covetous
and wanting instead of by diligent work obtain riches to get riches
in a quick way. And then there are those of course
whose whole heart and mind is upon their riches and work and
desiring to obtain that profit of this world. But what is specifically
set forth here is that covetousness to desire what is not ours, that
belongs to someone else. And whether it be in monetary
things, the love of money is the root of all evil, not money
but the love of it. And then when we think of the
sins of this world, the sins of covetousness, of lustful evil
sexual desire, is at the root of just about every sin and evil
that there is, so prevalent in every aspect of society. And those that know their own
heart and are honest with their own heart will know that that
is one of the greatest sins and greatest wickednesses. The evidence
is itself in the heart of man. Man's heart is fallen. It goes
after covetousness in all of its forms and all of its ways.
And you know, dear friends, whether we are called by grace or not,
our own natural heart, our fallen heart, is still the same. It's still the same. The psalmist here is praying
what really will remain to be the prayer of every one of God's
children who don't want to continue going in the way of their old
fallen nature and heart. Those who resist it, those who
grieve over it, those who are sorrowful for it, those who know
that it is not the right way, it is the wrong way, Those that
are brought in conviction of their sin, those that come like
the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner. The question
with us, how do we view our heart, our real inmost being and affections? Do we notice what our heart is
inclined to? where it leans, where its affections
go, where it will run as unchecked
by grace or unchecked by the fear of God or without the power
of God upon it. Let go, or without God's power,
it goes its own way. What a word we have. All we like
sheep have gone astray. We have gone, every one, to our
own way. But he hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. That is the picture of fallen
man. All we like sheep have gone astray. And we go astray. Well, may this
word be an encouragement to those who really feel and know the
covetousness of their heart, their sinfulness, their wickedness,
and where the inclination and bent of it is, that here is a
petition that is good for you, is good for me, incline my heart
unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness. If the psalmist
did not feel his own heart had a propensity and an inclination
to covetousness, he would never be praying to the Lord to do
it for him. He would never be praying to
be inclined away from that. And if he did not see any beauty
in the testimonies of the Lord, in the true witness of God, God's
heart, he would never be praying this prayer either. So in one
sense it is seeing on one hand what he does not want and grieves
over and yet feels inclined to, and the other is what he does
want and what he needs the power of God to incline his heart to. And may we be with the same mind
and same feeling as the psalmist. Well let us think then in the
second place, the power of God to incline the heart another
way. Very often the first effect of
being convinced of our sin and the evil of our heart is to try
and change it ourselves. Try to turn ourselves and try
to walk in the ways of the Lord. But the apostle again, he says
that, the good that I would, I do not, and the evil that I
would not, that I do. No wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? God has not put
it that all we need is just to read the word and say, oh, that's
what I should do. And just then, with our own power
and our own will, just change our hearts and change our whole
inner spring and being and just be another person. Just turn
over a new leaf and just walk another way. The fall is deeper
than that. The malady is deeper than that. Now some people would think when
they get an illness all they've got to do is mind over matter
and they'll be better. But how many illnesses? They
need intervention. They need a professional. They need one skillful to deal
with it. There's nothing more true than
in the case of the heart. And so I would say again, as
an encouragement here in this verse, to those who like the
woman with the issue of blood, 12 years, she'd suffered much
of the physicians, grew worse rather than better. When she
heard of Jesus, she came in the press behind if I may but touch
the hem of his garment. And when she did, then immediately
she knew that she was healed of that disease. The Lord knew
that virtue had gone out of him. Power had gone out of him and
healed that woman. And it is that that we need. This that is revealed in the
word of God that the God of heaven and of earth has power here in
our day, 2021, to turn men's hearts and to incline men's hearts
so that they embrace his word, embrace his testimonies, his
way of salvation, all that is holy and pure and good, and to
hate all that which is evil. The word says, ye that love the
Lord, hate evil. And what is revealed is that
God has power to affect that in the heart. We cannot. The
heart can't change itself. We can perhaps try to disguise
the heart But we can't change that heart. But God can. And it may be up to this present
time we've been praying the Lord that he guide our footsteps and
guide our thoughts and our words. And it's right that we should.
But overlook the fact that actually the malady is the heart. That
is what we need changed. is what we need to be right with
God. Otherwise, we're but and almost
a Christian, not fully and completely. But God has power. You might say, well, God has
almighty power. He's created this world. He sustains
it by his power. He sets up kingdoms, he brings
down kingdoms. But there is a special power
that is needed and it is only through our Lord Jesus Christ
to do that work in the heart. Because God's justice demands
that the soul that sinneth it shall die, and we are already
in Adam under the sentence of death. And so before the power
of God, can be put forth to change our hearts and to bring us again
into fellowship, communion with Him and at one with Him, then
there must be satisfaction made to a broken law. The Lord Jesus
Christ, God's eternal Son, was made manifest in the flesh, Immanuel
God with us, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law, made of a woman, that he should be the seed of the
woman that should bruise the serpent's head. It is through
the Lord Jesus Christ alone that our hearts can ever be inclined
a different way. And it is because the Lord Jesus
Christ bore the sin of his people on Calvary's tree, suffered in
their place, satisfied the justice of God, endured the ultimate
penalty to die instead of them. Sama says, let thy hand be upon
the man at thy right hand, the son of man, whom thou madest
strong for thyself. And it is Christ's death and
resurrection from the dead that gives God power in Christ to
change a sinner's heart. Our Lord is in heaven. He has
ascended there. And he has ascended there as
our advocate with the Father. That is one that does speak on
our behalf. to appear in the presence of
God for us. His will is, I pray not that
thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst
keep them from the evil. And then at last, Father, I will
that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. He says, I have given them thy
word, and the world hath hated them. It is through the gospel
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the good news of salvation,
that hearts are changed and turned. It is through the Holy Spirit's
power attending the Word that God works in a sinner's heart. God's people not only are Given
eternal life by the Lord, I give unto them eternal life. They
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand. But they are kept by the power
of God unto salvation. But it's through faith, kept
by the power of God through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. And faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. And so the power of God, the
power of God is put forth through the Lord Jesus Christ. When the
disciples were preaching the word, they had no power to change
men's hearts, to convert any they could preach. But our Lord
had said, tarry at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power
from on high. But when they preached, there
were thousands that were pricked in their hearts. They were convinced
of their sinnership. They were convinced of the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ to reconcile them to God. They embraced that
good news of salvation. They believed, they were saved. Go ye into all the world, preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And the power worked with them.
The apostles said of the Thessalonians that they received the word,
not in word only, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. It is that power that God has
over a heart. And that power comes through
the word of the Lord that is sharper than any two-edged sword. It is like a hammer. It is a
word that the Lord has said, my word shall not return unto
me void. It shall accomplish the thing
whereto I sent it. God has promised to do this. He has promised to bless his
word. Lo, I am with you even unto the
end of the world, with that same power, that same effectual working. And it is something that, in
the words of our text, we are to pray for and ask for. When the Lord first bids a sinner
live and quickens him into spiritual life and brings him to see what
his heart is by nature, then it is to pray in the words of
our text that the Lord will give us a hard work and by His power
by His work, by a miracle of His grace and mercy, incline
our hearts unto His testimonies. God does have power. Poor soul
that may feel to be so under the power of sin, so carried
about by wicked, deceitful heart, wonder where the scene will end,
at a loss at which end as to how to change one's own heart
or overcome the habits of sin, the thoughts of sin, the affections
of sin. Here is the hope that God would
actually give the heart that loves the Lord and loves his
word So then I want to look thirdly,
heart inclined unto the Lord's testimonies. The apostle, and he speaks to
the Romans and how needful that changed heart is. In Romans 10, he says, if thou
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. There are those that will just
have, as it were, the mouth, but no heart. But where there
is the heart, then there is the confession and then there is
the embracing of all that God has revealed and said. The preparation
of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord
as in Proverbs 16 verse 1. A heart that is inclined unto
the Lord's testimonies instead of fleeing from the light, it
goes to the light. Our Lord said, because men's
hearts are evil, then they will not come to the light, that their
deeds be made manifest. But where our heart is right
with the Lord, though it is painful, though it shows our sinnership,
though it shows what we are, We'll still come to that word. We'll still look into that word. We'll own that God is righteous
and just. We'll be like the publican, God
be merciful to me a sinner. The word is that we are saved
by grace. We should never ever be able
to look at our own works and say, that's why I'm saved. That's why the Lord has brought
me to heaven, because he's brought my works to be perfect in this
life. No, the Lord makes the heart
perfect, as it were, one with the Lord. And that perfect heart,
one with the Lord, still feels and knows the working of sin,
Sin is subdued, sin is under, put under. It doesn't have dominion. But God's children are called
to a daily battle with the corruptions of their own heart. But where
a new heart is given, and where the Lord has given his own heart
and mind and impressed that upon his people, then it will not
cavil at the Word of God. It will not rest it, twist it,
turn it, make provision for the flesh, make excuses for the flesh,
undermine God's Word, His Gospel. But the Word is growing grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is opposite
to works. If we grow in grace, we'll grow
more and more feelings The words of the hymn writer, if ever my
poor soul be saved, tis Christ must be the way. More and more
convinced that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. Well I want to, before we close,
some illustration. I want to try and convey the
difference between the heart and outward. Now some of you
will be familiar with the case, of course, of David, King David. God said of him that he was a
man after God's own heart. In other words, his heart was
right with God. He did truly love the Lord and
from his inmost being, desire to walk in his ways. There's God's own testimony.
But what happened in David's life? You know, he fell in the
case of Bathsheba with this very thing, with covetousness, coveting
Bathsheba, who was Uriah's wife. And then he lay with her. Then when she was with child,
he had her husband murdered with the children of Rabba. The Lord
sent Nathan. He was brought into conviction.
He was brought to own his sin, to confess his sin. And the Lord
forgave him his sin. But the chastening, the sword,
did not depart from his house all his days. And the point I
want to make there with David, and later on towards the end
of his life, he numbered Israel as well, and again fell under
that that he had sinned. One whose heart is right with
the Lord may and do sin. in sometimes very great ways. And yet their heart is still
right. The sin that they have done is
not characteristic with the heart that they have been given. And
so they are recovered, they are restored from that slip and fall. This is what is at the basis
in Paul's letter to the Galatians chapter 6. Brethren, if a man
be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an
one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. Where the heart is right and
there is a slip or fall, a brother will only need to just Point
out what is wrong. Show them what is wrong. That
the Lord's given thee the way the church deals with such slips. First, make it really a private
matter. Tell a brother on his own. And in most cases, where the
heart is right, they'll immediately recognise. You won't have to
do the next step of bringing another as a witness. Or the
next step, when they don't hear a brother, then brought to the
church and dealt with by the church. If the heart is right,
it will recognize the word of God. It'll recognize the admonitions
of the church and of that which is pointed out by the people
of God. The vital thing is that the heart
is right. We have again with King Asa,
It was that in his old age, he was diseased in his feet. He
persecuted the Lord's servant. He, in one way, departed from
the Lord. But the Scripture witness is
that the nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord
his God all his days. He did fool. He did things that
you'd really wonder how could one With a right heart, do. But God's witness is actually
right at heart. He was truly one of the Lords,
and loved the Lord, and loved his word, and loved his ways.
You think of Peter. The Lord says, Satan hath desired
to have thee, to sift thee as wheat, that have prayed for thee
that thy faith fail not. And he denied his Lord and Master
three times and with an oath. But was his heart right? Yes,
his heart was right. He was restored afterwards. What a grief it was to him. Afterwards,
the Lord gave him that opportunity three times to testify of his
love to the Lord. And Peter, he says, thou knowest
that I love thee. Thou knowest all things. No,
the Lord knew Peter's heart. He'd given him a new heart. If
you and I have a new heart, there'll still be that battle with covetousness,
that battle with sin, but our constant desire it will be, and
our prayer will be, incline my heart unto thy testimonies. May my heart write. the root
of the matter be right. Then you have another contrast,
the contrast of Jehu. You remember that he was raised
up to execute the judgment of the Lord on the house of Ahab. He said to Jonadab, the house
of Rechab, come and see my zeal for the Lord. And he had a great
zeal for the Lord. He executed all the Lord's judgment
on the house of Ahab. And God commended him for that. But then we read a most solemn
thing, that he took no heed to walk in the law of God with all
his heart. He didn't turn away from the
abominations and wickednesses The amazing thing, like with
Jeroboam. Jeroboam was brought to have
ten tribes of Israel because of Solomon's sins. And yet Jeroboam
did more wickedly than ever Solomon did in an outward way. Though
Solomon did much wickedness with making those idols for his wives
and many wives. But Solomon's heart was right,
yet he still did sin. But Jeho, he did many right things
outwardly, but the word of God's testimony was actually, it was
just outward works and the heart was not right. And so really
we say this, there are those people that in some of their
deeds outwardly you think, oh they're doing good things, For
the Lord they seem to be walking in the Lord's ways, and yet really
at heart they are not one with the Lord or His people. There are those that are one
with the Lord and His people. They love the Lord. They love
His people. They love His commandments. And
they mourn and they grieve when they sin, when they go against
them. But they do sin, they do slip,
they do fall. The important thing with us is
that the Lord answers this prayer and that we feel it day by day. We don't have to go right back
to the new birth, but we realize it day by day when the Lord answers
this petition and inclines our heart unto His testimonies and
not to covetousness. May we go on praying this prayer
and bless the Lord where he has exercised his sovereign saving
power over our hearts so we can say with the hymn writer, my
heart will move at thy command. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.