Earlier this morning we were
considering that Kingdom of God that he's spoken
of there in Romans chapter 14 and verse 17. The Kingdom of God is not meat
and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. We thought then of the nature
of God's kingdom. It's not the kingdom of this
world. It's not outward, it's inward.
It's not natural, it's spiritual. It's not of the law, but it is
of the grace of God. And in a sense I want us to continue
in that same line of things as we turn for our text this evening,
two words that we find in the Psalms. In Psalm 119 and the
130th verse. This long Psalm, 176 verses in total. The longest by far of all the
Psalms. Psalm 119 and turning to the verse 130, the entrance of thy words giveth light, it
giveth understanding unto the simple is God's kingdom an inward
kingdom, a spiritual kingdom where we see it here the entrance
into that kingdom it comes by God's words entering into not
only our minds but also into our hearts and so taking up that
theme of the entrance of God's kingdom the entrance of God's
kingdom the psalm of course is quite remarkable I suppose we
might say it's the most remarkable of all the psalms as well as
being the longest of all the psalms and it's very much in
the form of a prayer God certainly is spoken of in the first place
in the opening verses because there we have God referred
to in the third person the words His and Him Blessed are the undefiled in
the way who walk in the Lord of the Lord. Blessed are they
that keep His testimonies, that seek Him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity, they
walk in His ways. The psalmist is speaking of God
and speaking of the Word of God governing the lives of those
who are the God But then, there at verse 4 following,
he turns from speaking in that manner, referring to God in the
third person, and addresses God very directly in the second person,
where we have Thou and Thy. Thou hast commanded us to keep
Thy precepts, or that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. He's beginning now not to speak
of God, to speak about God, as in those first three verses,
but the psalmist begins to speak directly to God. And that's certainly
the case when we come to the words that we have before us
tonight. Again, we have the second person,
the entrance of thy words give us light. It giveth understanding
unto the simple. So what we have here is certainly
in the form of prayer. And observe just what he says
here as he addresses God. He says, The entrance of thy
words giveth light. And words is clearly in the plural. We can so easily misquote this
text and say the entrance of thy word giveth light. That is
a truth. But the word is not really in
the singular, is it? It's in the plural. And that
is significant because it reminds us that God's word, the Bible,
is made up of many words, a multitude of words. And we're told by the
wise man in the book of Proverbs that every word of God is pure. Every word that we find. All the many, many words throughout
the Scriptures, every one of them is pure. And I take it for granted, friends,
that we all have that high doctrine of Scripture. We believe in what
they call plenary inspiration. It is inspired by God right from
the beginning, from Genesis, right through the Old Testament,
into the New Testament, right through to the book of Revelation. Plenary, inspired in every part
but sooner referred to it as being verbally inspired. Verbally inspired. In other words,
all the words, without any exception, are God's words. Now of course
that's the case when we think of the original Hebrew writings
of the Old Testament Scriptures, the Greek writings of the New
Testament Scriptures. And we don't have Hebrew and
Greek words before us tonight. We have the Bible in our own
tongue. We have English words here. But
we have the authorized version and the great beauty, as we've
said so many times, is that this is such a faithful rendering.
Those who were responsible for the translation, they had a high
doctrine. And as we've said, if they translated a passage
and they felt it was necessary to bring out the proper sense,
They must bring in some additional words in the English. They indicate
that. And so we have a number of words.
If you look over the page of your Bible, you'll find a number
of the words appear in italic text. Those are words that are
not translations of any Hebrew word here in the psalm, but they're
little words that have been brought in by the translators to bring
out the proper sense of the passage. Every word of God is pure. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable. Writes the Apostle there in 2nd
Timothy 3.16. And as we've said the expression given by inspiration
of God. Those words really are a single
word. And it's a compound word, it's
words married together as it were, it literally says all scripture
is breathed of God. It's God's breath. And we know that when we come
to speak there are certain words that we have to aspirate. We
have to speak words by breathing words in a sense. And this is
what we have in the Bible. We have the very breath of God. Oh yes, God has spoken through
men. There were human authors of all
the books of the Bible. But those men were all of them
inspired by the Spirit of God. Holy men of God, Peter tells
us, they spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God. The words
that the prophets are speaking, the words that the Psalmist spoke,
they're inspired by the Spirit of God. Every one of them, holy
men. speaking as I moved, and the
strength of the verb that he uses here to move, to bear along,
to carry along. As we've said on other occasions,
it's the same word that's found in Acts 27, where Paul is making
that journey, he's appealed to Caesar, he's going from Jerusalem
to Rome to appear before Caesar in order to escape from the malicious
ways of the Jews who were seeking to kill him there in Jerusalem.
As a Roman citizen, he has that right, he appeals to Caesar,
he makes the journey. And we have it recorded in the
27th of the Acts. And as they're travelling across
the Mediterranean, there's a great storm, Eurocriton, and the mariners
can't control the ship. And twice we read how they simply
straked sails and let the vessel to its own devices as it were.
Left it to the winds and to the waves. The word literally means to bear,
to carry along. They straked sails and let it
drive, it was driven. And that's the word that we have
there in 2 Peter 1.21. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved, as they were borne along, carried along by the Spirit
of God. They're not speaking their own
words. They're speaking the words of God. And as you know, this
particular Psalm 119 is very much a celebration of the Word
of God. That's a great theme. It's divided,
isn't it, into sections. 22 sections. And at the head
of each of those sections the letters, the 22 letters of the
Hebrew alphabet. And in the Hebrew every one of
the verses would begin with that letter that stands at the head
of that section. And so it's an acrostic, it's
a poem built around the letters of the Hebrew alphabet which
was used of course when God gave his word during the period of
the Old Testament. And the Lord Jesus is referring
to those Old Testament writings in the Sermon on the Mount when
he says, Not one jot or tittle shall ever pass from the Lord
of God till all is fulfilled. The Jots. the title, he's referring
there to letters, Hebrew letters, or just little bits of letters,
parts of letters that distinguish one letter from another letter.
Oh, what a high doctrine does the Lord Jesus Christ have of
God's holy words. And this is what we have in the
text, the entrance of thy words. The words of God in Holy Scripture
give light, give understanding, unto the simple. And this isn't the only psalm
that celebrates the Word of God. There's a sense in which, as
you know, the 19th psalm, in a similar fashion, is a celebration
of the Scriptures. And the language that we have
there, verse 7, the Lord of the Lord is perfect, converting the
soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous, together, all together. And he uses these
various synonyms. He speaks of God's Word in terms
of the law or the testimony. or the statutes or the commandments
and amongst them he refers to the fear how we should tremble at the
sacred page when we come to the Word of God how we need to pray
over God's Word and reverence the sacred page
and it's interesting going back to the 119th Psalm and we've
said this of course In all of the verses, 176 verses, in all
those verses those various synonyms might be used. The Word, the
Law, the Commandment, the Statute, the Judgment. There's just two
exceptions. There's two verses where we don't
find any specific reference to God's Word in the 122nd and the
132nd verses. All we need then to come carefully to God's Word.
Everything must be measured by God's Word, to the law and to
the testimony. If they speak not according to
this Word, it is because there is no light in them, says Isaiah
in his book. Or we turn to the law, to the
testimony. If the man speaks not according to this Word, there's
no light in him. It's these words that brings
light to man. The entrance of thy words give
us light. They give us understanding to
the simple. We think of those words again
in 2 Peter. There at verse 19 in the
first chapter he says, We have also a more sure word of prophecy. whereunto ye do well that ye
take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts a more sure
word of prophecy a light shining in a dark place until the day
dawn and the day star arise in your hearts in your hearts Well,
I want to deal with two headings tonight, really, as we come to
this verse. First of all, to say something
with regard to the entrance of that Word of God. Oh, the Daystar
must arise in the hearts. The Son of Righteousness arising
with healing in His being. Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ said,
didn't he? We refer to it this morning there
in Luke 17, the Kingdom of God is within you. Lord, the light
must come and shine in that dark place, our heart which is so
full of every sin, every iniquity. It's not enough, is it, to have
the the bare letter of God's words. It must enter. It must enter. We have to receive
it. We have to receive it and know
it as that engrafted or that implanted word. That's how it
becomes salvation. The language of James 1.21, receive
with meekness. the engrafted Word that is able
to save your soul, says the Apostle. Or do we have that spirit of
meekness as we come under the sound of God's Word, when we
read God's Word? Is it that meekness, that humbleness
of mind? We confess our own utter ignorance
and we need that God should come and illuminate our poor minds,
our sin-darkened minds, a great ignorance. We have that promise,
dealt with the promise of the New Covenant. Here is a difference
you see, you think of the the Old Covenant in terms of the law that God gave by Moses
there on Mount Sinai. God's law written in tables of
stone. But what does God say in the
New Covenant? There in Jeremiah Chapter 31 and verse 31 following. He says, Behold, a day cometh
that I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in
their hearts. The entrance, the entrance of
thy word giveth light. Now, those words of the Prophet,
there in Jeremiah 31, They're taken up, aren't they, in that
portion that we were reading, in the 8th of Hebrews, and the
language of Jews there. Turning back to that passage,
he speaks of the first covenant, that's the covenant that was
given at Mount Sinai in the Ten Commandments. He says here, at
verse 7 in that chapter, If that first covenant had been faultless,
then should no place have been sought for the second. for finding
fault with them is saith, Behold, is he quoting, you see, Jeremiah
31? Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they
continue not in my covenant, and I regard them not, saith
the Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws
into their minds and write them in their hearts and I will be
to them a God and they shall be to me a people. What is he
doing? He's drawing a contrast between the old covenant, the
law, and the new covenant, the gospel. And then he says at the
end of the chapter here in Hebrews 8, in that he saith, A new covenant,
he hath made the first old, and that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Oh, what is this new covenant? It's the gospel. It's the gospel. Oh, it's the entrance of thy
word, God's word, not written upon tables of stone. Again,
we could refer to the third chapter in 2 Corinthians. You can read
through that chapter. Because there he speaks of God's
law written in fleshy tables of the heart. That's the expression
that we have there in 2 Corinthians 3. God's Word written in fleshy
tables of the heart. when God gives a new heart. Maybe
we sometimes feel that my heart is so hard and I feel nothing. I read the Word of God, I feel
nothing. I often hear the Word of God read, I hear the Word
of God preached, I feel nothing. I have a hard heart. I need a
soft heart. What is the promise of the New
Covenant? Well, God said He will give a new heart and a new spirit
He'll put within His people. and he'll write his word, his
law then on fleshy tables of the heart. Oh behold! The kingdom of God is within
you. It's the life of God isn't it coming into the very soul
of the man. That's what it is. That's how
it has to be if there's going to be any real prophet, if we're
going to understand anything. Why we're so ignorant and so
simple? But the entrance of thy word
giveth light, it giveth understanding. Unto the simple says the text.
And we see this is how the gospel came to people in the New Testament.
When Paul is writing to those in Thessalonica and he reminds
them of what happened as he came preaching the gospel amongst
them. Our gospel came not unto you in word only, he says, but
in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. Is that
how we receive the Word of God? Is that how we want to receive
the Word of God? The Kingdom of God is not in
word only, but in power. Oh, it's the power of the Holy
Spirit, how we need that blessed work of God the Holy Ghost. to
make the words real to us to apply it so graciously to our
souls those words in Romans 6 17 where
Paul speaks of that form of doctrine which was delivered you speaks
of the form of doctrine that was delivered to them. That's the message that he was
preaching, the Gospel. He says again to Timothy, hold
fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in
faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. What an exhortation is
that! Timothy is to hold fast to that
form of sound words, the great doctrines of the gospel of the
grace of God, the great truths. And you know some of those doctrines,
blessed doctrines, concerning the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What has he done? He's paid the
ransom price. He's redeemed his people. He's
made propitiation, he's borne in his own person God's wrath
against the sins of his people. These are the great doctrines
that we find the apostles preaching and writing on. Or the work of
the Lord Jesus, when he came to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness. Or the great truth of that justifying
righteousness that is the righteousness of Christ imputed to the sinner. These great doctrines. Timothy
is to hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of
me, he says, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. And
Jude gives that general exhortation in his short epistle. Earnestly
contend, he says. Not just writing to an individual,
but writing in what is really a general epistle. It's addressed
to all Christians. Earnestly contend for the faith
once delivered unto the saints. And the faith there is that great
body of doctrine which constitutes the gospel of the grace of God. They're going back to those words
in Romans 6.17, that form of doctrine, which was delivered
you. And the marginal reading where
we have an alternative as it were. It's so difficult sometimes
to exactly translate from one language to another And how faithful
these translators are, because where they have difficulty, they
will say, well look, here in the margin is a different reading,
a slightly different reading, but both readings contain truth. And there in Romans 6.17, it's
that form of doctrine which ye were delivered to. It wasn't
just the truth delivered to them, as we've said previously, it
was then delivered to the truth. And the interesting thing is,
is the word, that form, they were delivered to a certain form. The word that's used is the word
tupos, type, or pattern. And we might think in terms,
to use an illustration, we might think in terms of the foundry,
where they work with molten metal and they have a pattern shop
where what is going to be made is formed really in the pattern
shop and once they've made the pattern
they take the molten metal and they pour it into the pattern
and what is there in the pattern will be reproduced and have that
shape And that's the idea there in that verse in Romans 6. We have to be delivered, as it
were, over to the pattern of Scripture. God's Word has to
mould us and shape us. That's what it means when the
entrance of God's Word comes and gives light. It has a remarkable
effect upon us. We're not the same people. once
we've known the entrance of God's Word, once that Kingdom of God
has come into our souls, we're not the same people. No, it's
Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's the life which I now live
in the flesh, that I live by the faith of the Son of God.
I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me. If any man is in Christ,
he's a new creation, he's different. Well, this is what we have here,
you see. It's not just having an intellectual
understanding, then, of the doctrines of the Word of God. It's that
doctrine, as it were, seizing hold of us, taking hold of our very soul,
and we're formed and fashioned after the Word of God. The light
has entered. We sang those words in with this
morning. in the 31st hymn, the form of words are where so sound
can never save us all. The Holy Ghost must give the
wounds and make the wounded whole. And now the hymn writer goes
on to speak about all of those doctrines, those great doctrines.
Look at the hymn again, number 31. He speaks of every doctrine
and how that doctrine has to come to us in a very personal
and real fashion and inform us and fashion us. or the entrance,
the entrance of thy words giveth light. Well, let us turn in the
second place to the light that is given. The light that is given. And what does it do? It gives
understanding unto the simple. In another psalm we read, In
thy light shall we see light. In God's light we see light. In a sense, when the light comes,
we get a sight of two things, don't we? Certainly we get a sight of ourselves. We get a sight of ourselves. We read the words there in Ephesians
5.13. All things that are reproved,
the margin says discovered, would be another rendering, all things
that are discovered are made manifest by the light. And whatsoever
does not make manifest is light. The light comes, you see, and
what does the light do? It exposes. And when we think, you see, of
how God's Word comes to us, it comes as a light and we're in
darkness. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. We're blind. We know nothing because we see
nothing, but the light comes and discovers us. And doesn't
the Lord himself say, He that doeth truth cometh to the light
that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.
So are we those who want to come to God's light and we want God's
light to come to us that we might come to a better understanding,
a real knowledge of ourselves. Again he says in that short portion
that we read at the beginning of Ephesians 5 ye were sometimes
darkness but now are ye light in the Lord ye were sometimes darkness or
can we say that that was the case we were in darkness but we're no longer in darkness ye are now light in the Lord
but what does it go on to say walk as children of light if the light really has come
to us it will have a it will have such a fundamental effect
upon us we'll be changed people we'll walk in the light we won't
walk in darkness we'll turn from all the darkness that's associated
with seeing oh God grant that we might be
such characters not like those that James speaks of the man
who beholds himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgets
what manner of man he is. For we that doeth evil, he hateth
the light, says Christ, neither cometh to the light, lest his
deed should be made manifest. Oh do we love the light, we want
to come to the light, we want to get that sight, we want to
see ourselves. Oh remember the prayer that the
kitchen maid was taught, that simple prayer she was to pray
to God and say Lord show me myself Lord show me myself and in the
next prayer Lord show me thyself show me thyself and in the light
you see when the light comes we don't just get a sight of
ourselves this is a great thing we get a sight of the Saviour
Oh, and what a sight is that! It giveth understanding. It giveth
understanding to the sinful. We've often referred to those
great words in 2 Corinthians 4, 6. There are some texts, aren't
there, that seem to be burned sometimes into our... well, we
trust into our soul, certainly into our memory, we hope. But
I love that verse, God who commanded the light. to shine out of darkness
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Oh the God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness God said let
there be light and there was light that was God's work of
creation and that same God Paul says has shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face, the
margin says in the person, in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, what a blessing to have that
revelation granted to us, to see the Saviour, to see Him who
said He is the light of the world and He that follows me shall
not walk in darkness, which shall have the light of life. That's
the follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the receipt of this light is
very much marked by simplicity, isn't it? It gives us understanding
unto the simple that's The simple in a good sense. The simple in
a good sense here. That's how we are to understand
that expression. They fill their ignorance. In fact here in the text, the
margin says, He giveth understanding unto the ignorant. And these
simple ones, you see, they fill their ignorance. They fill their
sin. having the understanding darkened. They're alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness of their eyes. That was their condition. There
in Ephesians 4.18 Paul speaks of what those Ephesians once
were, in all their sinful ignorance. But when the light comes, oh,
it gives understanding. He gives understanding. Light
is so. For the righteous, says the psalmist. And gladness for the upright
in heart. All when the Lord does His gracious
work in us. He doesn't just grant us that
sight of self. It's good to have a sight of
ourselves. And it's good to know ourselves. And we said only recently
we need to examine ourselves and to prove ourselves and Paul
says no you're not your own selves we're to know ourselves but he
can't rest there that would be utter despair once the Lord has
shown us what we are as sinners there is also the positive aspect
there's that revelation of himself shining in our hearts not just
to expose what our hearts are, a sink of iniquity, but shining
in our hearts to give that light of the knowledge of His glory. And it's all in the face, it's
all in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. O God, grant that
we might know then something of what it is for this Kingdom
of God to come into our hearts, The Kingdom of God, as we saw
this morning, it's not meat and drink, it's righteousness. It's
peace, it's joy. It's all in the Holy Ghost. And
he comes as that one who is very much the Spirit of Christ. He
doesn't come to speak of himself, says Christ, he comes to take
of mine and to show it unto you. Oh, the Lord grant then that
we might know what it is. for such truths to truly enter
into our hearts, into our souls. The entrance of Thy words giveth
light, it giveth understanding unto the simple. Oh, the Lord
be pleased to bless us with such a gracious visitation from Himself
to His glory and to our good. Amen. Let us conclude our worship
today as we sing the hymn 710. The tune is Ferndale 806. Oh, Berridge, oh Berridge was
certainly in the secret, wasn't he? No wisdom of man can spy
out his heart. The Lord only can The Lord only
can show his hidden parts, nor yet are men willing to have the
truth told. The sight is too killing for
pride to behold. 710, June, 806.