We might please God once again
to bless us as we look at the 119th Psalm, and this evening
we'll look at verses 12 to 16. So verses 12 to 16 in the 119th
Psalm, and we just read those verses. Blessed art thou, O Lord,
teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared
all the judgments of thy mouth. I rejoiced in the way of thy
testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy
precepts and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself
in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. So we continue the 119th Psalm
and we have the comments of the psalmist, we realise how wonderful
it is that Almighty God has granted that this psalm should be recorded
for our encouragement as we pass through this world. And we will
note that in this particular section, and in a number of sections,
there is this word statutes. It actually occurs 21 times in
the 119th Psalm. So here we have this first statement
then, which states, blessed art thou. Well, what a great privilege
it is if we realise how blessed the Lord is. in all that he says
and all that he does. We read that chapter in Micah
and those last few verses were so appropriate to spell out to
us the greatness and the glory of God. Verse 18 reads, who is
a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for
ever, because he delighteth in mercy. Surely we can say, blessed
be God when we read such words as that. This is our kind and
gracious God who doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve. And then he goes on and says,
he will turn again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities. And they will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. They will perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which they have sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. Well, there's just a little insight
as to why we have cause today to come and say, blessed art
thou. how true it is. And I hope we
can. I hope we can because we understand
the great truth of God. We understand what he's done
for us. We understand how he's led and
directed us and how he's enlightened our eyes. What a great blessing
that is. And if he's revealed to us ourselves
and revealed to us the glorious Saviour, We must then be able
to come in and agree with what we have here and be able to say,
blessed be God. And then we move on. Oh, Lord,
teach me thy statutes. It's a good prayer, isn't it?
To ask the Lord to teach us his way, to teach us those rules
and commands which we have in the Word of God for our instruction
and for our encouragement. And we must always realise that
God has given us such things for our benefit, for the mercy
of the Lord, for his great kindness toward us. And so he says, O
Lord, none else, there's no one else, but the Lord it is. He comes to, he prays to, he
cries to, teach me thy statutes. It's good to desire to be taught
of the Lord. Yes, and none teacheth like him. What a mercy it is to have such
a God then who teaches graciously, kindly, in love to our souls
and for our eternal good. It's good if we realise the amazing
mercy of God. in honoring such prayers. And it's good if we do pray in
this way. Oh Lord, teach me thy statutes. And then he comes on and he tells
us, with my lips have I declared all thy judgments of thy mouth. Now God has given us lips, hasn't
he? He's given us a voice. And it is our great and wonderful
privilege to be able to declare all that the Lord has done. To
not be silent. Many people today are silent. Such silence does not bring honour
to our God. The Lord has clearly told us,
ye are my witnesses. And as we are God's witnesses,
we are to therefore speak forward and declare His gracious work,
His gracious judgments with our lips. People do say, and rightly
so, of course, that our walk shows the things that we believe
and trust in, and so it's true. And people hide under that and
therefore think they haven't got to say anything. And yet
here we have a very clear statement from the psalmist, with my lips
have I declared all thy judgments of thy mouth. The words that
the Lord has spoken, spoken to us perhaps as individuals, spoken
to us through His Word, and spoken wonderful things in prophecy
which would come to pass. The words of his mouth speak
to us in the Old Testament again and again about the Lord Jesus
coming into this world, how he was to come, how gloriously he
did. What a wonderful thing to be
able to observe these things and to be able to declare them
with our lips and to testify we worship this great and almighty
God. And then he carries on, really
in a similar vein, he says, I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies. Well, have we rejoiced in the
work of God? Have we rejoiced in the great
and wonderful plan of salvation? I hope we have. We should truly
be thankful the Lord has provided that way, that way to be able
to come to our God, confessing our sins, seeking to him for
mercy. Remember, he is a God who is
rich in mercy and a God who does hear and answer prayer. And yet
a God who's told us he will be inquired of by the house of Israel
to do these things for them. And then when? as we have sought
the Lord. And he has been gracious to us.
And we have then rejoiced in what he said and what he's done. You see, the Christian life,
the true Christian life is not a morbid life. It surely is a
life from time to time of great rejoicing. As we may realize,
none other than the Savior came into this world Almighty God
himself to save and to redeem our souls. Oh, what a great and
glorious God we have. And so the psalmist says, I have
rejoiced in the way of our testimonies. Again, that plan of salvation,
the way that the Lord ordained from eternity past. It wasn't
something that just kind of gathered momentum. No, it was planned,
planned in eternity past. It came to pass in God's time,
in God's way. Not one jot or tittle failed,
and it never will. Because we have a God who, as
gloriously said, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. I have rejoiced in the way of
thy testimonies as much as in all riches. Naturally speaking,
we can perhaps rejoice in riches, but it doesn't bear any testimony,
does it, in comparison with the testimonies and the evidence
that we have in the love and mercy of the Saviour, to recognise
His compassion toward us. Well, it's a great blessing today.
If we can come and understand what the psalmist says, we do
rejoice in the testimonies of our God. And then he comes and
tells us, I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect
unto thy ways. how good it is if we are able
to meditate in the things of God and to meditate upon what
He's done for us and how He's preserved us and how He's helped
us and how He hasn't dealt with us as our sins deserve and how
He has provided a great and glorious salvation Well I will meditate
in all thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways acknowledge
in our little lives that God is leading us so that we're able
to concur with that wonderful statement in the 107th Psalm
He, God, led them forth by the right way that they might go
to a city of habitation Well, it's good, isn't it, to be able
to meditate upon such a situation, such a position, and to recognize
we have a most gracious God, a most blessed God who doesn't
deal with us as our sins deserve, but has a love to our soul. It's hard to understand, isn't
it? Almighty God should love such an unworthy wretch as we
are. Well, says the psalmist, I will
meditate in thy precepts. And let us not be put off from
that. Let us indeed try to meditate
and to meditate. The devil won't want you to.
He'll make every excuse and put everything in the way. But it's
a blessing if you and I can meditate in the precepts of the Lord.
and have respect unto his ways. And then finally, he says, I
will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. Well, what a mercy if you and
I delight in the way of God, delight in his great plan of
salvation, delight in his dealings with us, delight to follow his
great and glorious way and his plan that he's laid out before
us. I will delight. Well, God knows
whether we do delight in the way of the Lord. If we do delight
in his statutes, it's a glorious way, it's a wonderful truth to
realize what the Lord has done and will do. and so to be able
to say yes by the grace of God I also will delight myself personal
delight myself in thy statutes and then he says I will not forget
thy word that's a favour, that's a blessing because naturally
we do forget but as we commenced our thoughts on this 119th Psalm
So many times this is repeated, thy word, thy word. The word which we read tonight,
indeed we can say the whole word of God. And the psalmist here
is able to confirm, I will not forget thy word. And perhaps
in a special way, when God actually comes and speaks a word into
our hearts, and that word is embedded there and the scripture
Job has a statement it's written with an iron pen in the rock
just like that when God speaks a word into our soul there it
is and we don't want to lose it because it's God's word because
we're relying upon that which God has spoken to us And therefore
we can surely understand what the psalmist says, I will not
forget thy word. Well, there's a beautiful truths
that we've read and thought upon tonight. May we be able to do
so for the honor and glory of our God.