May God instruct us from it.
And now once again, may the Lord bless us as we turn to the 119th
Psalm, and this evening we'll read from verse 161 to verse
164. Psalm 119 from verse 161 to verse 164, and we just read
those four verses. princes have persecuted me without
a cause, but my heart standeth in awe of thy word. I rejoice at thy word, as one
that findeth great spoil. I hate and abhor lying, but thy
law do I love. Seven times a day do I praise
thee because of thy righteous judgment. In these verses really the psalmist
is referring to what he's referred to on many occasions, how he
loves the law and how he loves the Word of God, and how he rejoices
in it. And although he tells us here
in this 161st verse, princes have persecuted me without a
cause, as a statement, as obviously a fact in his life, he then says,
but, my heart standeth in awe of thy word. It seems that the
persecution really, although obviously painful and difficult,
by comparison it was really had little effect because he was
taken up with his heart His heart standeth in awe of thy word. And let's just pass on and say,
I rejoice at thy word as one that findeth great spoil. Now, as I've said on a number
of occasions, of course, we think that really David only had the
five books of Moses, first five books in the Old Testament, and
yet he was privileged to have them and be able to read them
and to wonderfully rejoice in them. And it obviously filled
his heart with thanksgiving. He said, I rejoice at thy word
as one that findeth great spoil. And what a blessing it is for
us today, you know, if we were to find a a box of gold in the
garden or something like that, we would think that was a wonderful
blessing and a wonderful favour. But in reality, the Word of God
is far more valuable than anything that this world can offer. And
it's quite simple to realise why. It's because the things
of this world vanish away. In any event, you and I will
have to leave them when we die. And yet the word of the Lord
remains forever. And how full and how glorious
it is. And just think for a moment,
those first five books in the Bible, he tells us, I rejoice
at thy word. And if we think of what those
five books contain, it's great and glorious truths. It speaks
about, of course, Adam and Eve and the Lord's mercy to them. It speaks about Abraham being
called out of Ur of the Chaldees. It speaks about Noah and his
amazing deliverance. It speaks about Isaac. It speaks about Jacob and the
patriarchs. And it's wonderful detail how
the Lord appeared for all of those people in the recorded
quite clearly in the Old Testament. And therefore, as we live today,
in very different scenes, but we have the same God. The same
God wonderfully appeared, did he not, in those days? When we
think of Noah with the ark, how he wonderfully fulfilled his
promise and destroyed the world and all the sin that existed
at that time. And then, as we think, he spoke
to Abraham, called him to leave the Ur of the Chaldees, and he
had to go out, not knowing where he was going. But God was with
him, and God directed him. And if we think of David's life,
David's life was a life where much of it was wandering around,
wasn't it, after he was made king when he fled from Saul. But he would have rejoiced in
the word of God and no doubt rejoiced in the wonderful testimony
that he had before him. And then also then we can we
can think of Isaac and how the Lord provided a wife for him
and how God was with him in a very amazing way. And then of course
Jacob and his children. We think particularly perhaps
of Joseph, again how God gloriously appeared for him. So we have
so much to thank God for and of course then when Israel came
out of Egypt, you think of all that which Moses was shown. The institution of the tabernacle,
the blessing of the Passover, all these things were shown to
Moses and he was able to instruct Israel of old and Israel were
able to carry it out. And of course, these things pointed
without fail to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we see what David
was able to write in the Psalms, especially those Messianic Psalms,
which refer so clearly to the Lord Jesus, it would have been
based upon the wonderful revelation that God had given to him as
he read those Old Testament books. So with a background like that,
surely we can understand, he says, but my heart standeth in
awe of thy word, in awe of what God did, of awe of how he appeared,
and how he spoke, and how he directed. And what did he tell
us then? David says, I rejoice at thy
word. Now when you and I read the word
of God, and it touches our heart, and I hope that we do know something
of that, and if we don't, to pray for it. When the word of
God touches our heart, what do we do? We rejoice at thy word,
as one that findeth great spoil. because the spoil contained in
the Word of God has an eternal value with it. It's not linked
to time, it's linked to eternity. And how encouraging it is, as
you and I are able to read the word of God and we come across
passages or a word that God applies to our heart and we can indeed
rejoice at thy word. Well David did and I believe
the church of God do also and it would be a great wonderful
testimony and evidence for you and me of God's work in our heart
as we read the Bible that we rejoice greatly in the Word of
God. And he says, there's one finest
great spoil, not something trivial. It's very important. It's very
valuable. So what a wonderful thing it
is for us today to be able to rejoice in such words as this
and to have some understanding of why David was able to speak
in such full and endearing terms because it really meant something
to him. It wasn't vain words. It was
words from his very soul. What a blessing it is then for
us. And then he tells us, I hate
and abhor lying. And again, that's good if the
Holy Spirit has convinced us of the wrongness of lying and
to hate it. and to turn away from it. And
then, by comparison, he says, but thy law do I love. The difference
is, one is lies. and one is truth. And what a
blessing for us today. Therefore, if we can say, yes,
I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love. If we do, it's because of God's
grace. And it's a wonderful evidence
of his love and mercy toward us. And then he says, seven times
a day, Do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments? And if we think of that, that's
probably about every two hours he would praise God. I don't
know how it was carried on, but he may well have stopped and
perhaps knelt down and praised God because of his righteous
judgments. It wasn't something which was
abstract. It was very real and David rejoiced
in it seven times a day, do I praise thee because of thy righteous
judgments. Well, how encouraging it should
be for you and me today as we have such a wonderful example
set before us here in this 119th Psalm and desire. to follow the
testimony and the example of these grand and glorious truths. Well may God indeed come and
look upon us and bless us indeed. We ask it all for Jesus' sake. Well now let's