Turn back to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. I titled this, Teach Me. Lord, teach me. Be my teacher. Instruct me. David was truly
a man after God's own heart. And we see this in his prayers. Everything he prays for here
in these eight verses, I believe it is, has to do with his relationship
to God through the Word of God. This is how we walk with God. This is how we know God. This
is how we are instructed of God through His Word. Through His
Word. No person is serious about knowing
God who makes little use of God's Word. There's no one who's serious
about it. If we are serious in knowing
the Lord, if we are serious in growing in grace and in knowledge
of Christ, if we are serious in growing in faith, we make
much of the Word of God. Because God does not operate
apart from His Word. This is how He communicates to
us. It's through His Word. Now in this prayer, David makes
eight requests. I wish I could pray like this.
Boy, I read this and it just made me feel ashamed of the way
I pray. He makes eight requests here,
all having to do with God and His Word. He knew the value of
God's Word. He says here in verse 33, the
first thing He says, first of all is, teach me. Teach means
to impart knowledge. Give me spiritual knowledge. He's asking God to instruct him,
to make him His pupil, to sit at His feet and be instructed
of God, and learn of Him. But learn of Him. God is on another
realm than what we are. God is Spirit. I was thinking
this whole week, I've been thinking about this. God is Spirit. And when Adam fell in the garden,
that part of us died. We died spiritually. We come
into this world, we have this natural what's called flesh,
which is more than just skin and bones. It's the nature. We
have this nature of flesh. We don't have that nature of
spirit or spiritual nature. God is on a complete other realm
than us. He must take us in hand. be born
of the Spirit, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit,
and then He must be the one who instructs us, even though He
uses men, like me right now. Yet God Himself must be the Teacher,
because I cannot impart unto you understanding. I can tell you, I can give you
what I understand, but I can't impart that to you. Only God
can do that. One of Job's three friends said
this, None teaches like God. What He teaches, you learn the
lesson. You learn the lesson. And this
is more than intellectual knowledge that He's asking for. This is
to know God. The statutes, the precepts, judgments,
the Word of God, all are combined in the Word of God is to know
God. It's to know Him. Here's something
that just struck me this week. God is the lesson. In all His
judgments and precepts, His Word, His Law, God is the lesson. No
teacher. You know, you teach, Peggy teaches,
but Peggy's not her lesson. You teach a lesson, but you're
not the lesson. God is the lesson. Christ said, take my yoke upon
you and learn of Me, I'm the lesson. You see, God is the lesson. And this learning here, this
learning, teaching, involves experience. God enables us and
makes us to experience what He's teaching us. We read of the sovereignty
of God in the Word of God, and it's one thing to read it, and
to believe it. But it's another thing when God
takes from you without asking. That's sovereignty. It's one
thing when God takes you from one place and moves you to another
place and doesn't ask your opinion. That's sovereignty. That's God's
sovereignty. He can send rain and He doesn't
ask anybody if He can. That storm we had the other night,
did He call any of you up? He didn't call anybody. He sent
it. He purposed it. He sent it. That's the demonstration of sovereignty. We experience. We experience
the lesson. Let me read. I got this from
Paul. I was going to read it. I was listening to Paul preach
from this and he read John Newton's poem, and I went on search on
the internet and I got it. I think you all sang it here
not long ago. It's Prayer Answered by Crosses.
He said, I asked the Lord that I might grow in faith and love
and every grace. Might more of His salvation know
and seek more earnestly His face. It was He who taught me thus
to pray, and He I trust has answered prayer. But it has been in such
a way as almost drove me to despair. I hoped that in some favored
hour, at once he'd answer my request, and by his love's constraining
power, subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this, he
made me feel the hidden evils of my heart, and let the angry
powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Yea, more with
his own hand he seemed intent to aggravate my woe, crossed
all the fair designs I schemed, blast my gourds, and laid me
low. Lord, why is this? I trembled and cried. Wilt thou
pursue thy worm to death? "'Tis in this way,' the Lord
replied, I answer prayer for grace and faith. These inward
trials I employ from self and pride to set thee free." You're
going to experience the teaching. That's what John Newton is saying
there. You're going to experience the
teaching. And so David says, "'Teach me,
teach me.'" But here, listen, "'Teach me
the way of thy statutes, Now, anytime I read of the way in
the Word of God, my first thought, what's your first thought? Christ
said, I am the way. Teach me the way of thy statute. You see, Christ said this. He said, you search the Scriptures,
speaking to the Pharisees, and then you think you have eternal
life. They are they which testify of me. God's Law, His Word, His
Statues, His Precepts all lead us to the Lord Jesus Christ who
is the Way. He's the Way. And what He's asking
for here is more than knowing the letter like the Pharisees
knew. It's to know the Spirit. It's the Spirit of Christ in
them. It's to know the Spirit of the Statues. Christ said this,
listen, the words that I speak to you, and this is why it's
so important to sit under the Gospel, The words that I speak
to you, they are spirit and they are life. He will use the preaching
of the gospel, the preaching of His Word, to communicate life. That's how important it is. It's a living way, it's a narrow
way, it's Christ the way. the way of thy statutes, and
I shall keep it unto the end. I, by thy grace," listen, "...will
persevere in them unto the end." I won't quit. By thy grace, I'll
not quit. Quit. God's children persevere
in faith. They persevere in faith through
the grace of God. I wrote here, I said, and this
was to me more than anybody, Let's not ask God to teach us
if we are not determined to follow Him until the end of life. That's
mockery. In other words, I will walk in
the light of Thy Word until the end of my days. Teach me and
I'll walk in the light of Your Word until the end of my days.
And give me understanding. Teach me." And now he asks, the
second request is, give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law, yea,
I shall observe it with my whole heart. You remember what Philip
asked the eunuch, Understandest thou what thou readest? Do you
understand the Word of God? Do you understand from Genesis
to Revelation who this is about? What it's all about? It's all
about the Lord Jesus Christ. in His redemptive work, in His
redemptive glory. Let me read you something here.
I just thought of this before coming out here. Over here, he
says here, "...give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law." What
he wants is this. This is the same as Solomon asking
for wisdom. Give me spiritual wisdom and
understanding of what I'm reading. This is not just a book. This
is not just another book. This is God's Word. There's deep,
deep meaning in this book, in these words. It says over in
John chapter 5, listen to this in verse 20, And we know that
the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding. This is the understanding He's
asking for. He's given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true. This is the understanding
He wants, that He may know God. David wants this just as we want
this. That we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. Give me understanding of this.
Deep understanding, hard understanding. You know, knowledge by itself
puffs up. That's what Paul wrote in Corinthians.
He said, knowledge puffs up. That's why God gave Paul a thorn
in the flesh, because he had so much abundance of revelation
that he'd be lifted up with pride. So God gave him a thorn in the
flesh to keep him down. But what he's asking for here
is spiritual discernment. Give me spiritual discernment. The Pharisees, the Lord said
this to the Pharisees. You have heard that thou shalt
not commit adultery. Here's understanding. Here's
spiritual discernment. The Lord said, but I say, to
look on a woman, to lust after her, is to commit adultery already
in your heart. To hate a brother without a cause,
He said, is murder. That's understanding. That's
understanding the Pharisees didn't have. They thought just because
they didn't shoot somebody that they was fine. But in their hearts,
they hated the sinners. They hated Christ because He
ate with publicans and sinners. Give me spiritual understanding
of Thy Law, Thy Word. That's what He's asking for,
spiritual discernment. They did not know the spirituality
of the Law, the Pharisees didn't, but David here and all of God's
children ask for spiritual discernment and understanding of His Word. When I read it, when I read it,
give me spiritual understanding of Your Word. And I shall keep
Thy Law, yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. This
understanding that David is asking for affects the mind and the
heart. It's just not intellectual gathering of knowledge. It actually
just becomes you. I mean, it just affects the whole
person. The whole person, the mind and the heart. And the evidence
of understanding or spiritual wisdom is evidenced by our walk
in our daily lives in the light of God's Word. That's the evidence
of it. It's also evidenced by a right
fear and reverence of God. A right respect and reverence
for God. Teach me. Give me understanding. Now, I
like this one, and this one probably, I feel this one probably more
than any of them make me. Make me. Make me to go in the path of
Thy commandments, for therein do I delight." David is aware
of his own weakness. He said, teach me, give me understanding,
but Lord, make me to go. Make me to go. Hedge up my way
in such a way that I will go in the way of Thy commandments.
Hedge me up and make me to go. Make me to go in the path of
Thy commandments. We ask our Heavenly Father, as
His little children, to lead us, guide us, even make us to
go in the path of His commandments. In the light of the Gospel, in
the light of His Word, to walk in them. Make me to do it. Because I know what I am by nature. And I know what I'm bent to by
nature. And I know I struggle against those things by nature.
Lord, make me to do it. Make me do it. And knowledge
is called a path here, and it's called a path for its narrowness. It's not the broad way that leads
to destruction, but the narrow way, the straight and narrow
gate that leads to life, which is Christ. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's not, make me go in the
path of thy commandments because I'm supposed to. He says here,
but therein do I delight. Do you delight in God's Word?
Do you really delight in the promises of God, the gospel of
God? Is God's Word a delight to you? David said, therein do
I delight. This is where I find my real
delight. It's like the Lord when He said,
My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me. My delight.
My delight. God's testimonies are our delight
because in them is revealed the Lord Jesus Christ who is my life,
who is my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption,
my all in all before God. And therein do I delight in God's
Word because of the one it reveals. And then he says here, teach
me, give me understanding, make me
to go, incline my heart. I mean, what a prayer. He's saying,
bend my heart. That's incline is to bend. It
has one of the meanings is to bend my heart unto thy testimonies. Listen, and not to covetousness. That's probably one of the greatest
sins throughout the human race, and nobody will acknowledge it.
You ask any rich man if he's covetous, and he'll probably
say, no, I'm just... I wouldn't call myself covetous. But by nature, we are. By nature,
we are. And He says, bend my heart to
Your Word. And the testimonies here are
the promises. Bend my heart to Your promises. Make me to cherish
Your promises more than anything on this earth. Make me to lay
hold of Your promises more than anything on this earth. David knew that one of the greatest
threats to walking with God was covetousness. It's so subtle
a sin that we don't perceive when it's happening. We don't. The Bible gives us lots of illustrations
of people who were destroyed by covetousness. Balaam sold
out God's people over covetousness. Ahab had Naboth murdered, or
Jezebel had him murdered because Ahab wanted his vineyard, and
he wouldn't sell him the vineyard, and he was just so upset he couldn't
stand it, and they killed him. Then he took the vineyard. Covetousness. David committed adultery and
murder because of covetousness. Because Achan stole and brought
Israel to defeat by covetousness. Judas stole from his fellow disciples
and betrayed the Lord over covetousness. Thirty pieces of silver. Gehazi lied for the sake of covetousness. Remember Naaman? And then Elijah
didn't want to take anything. And then old Gehazi, he took
off afterwards and he lied. Covetousness. Ananias lied to
the Holy Spirit. Covetousness. Look over in 1
Timothy 6. In verse 9, listen. Let's go to verse 6. Godliness
with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into this
world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out. Having food
and raiment, let us therewith be content. But they that will
be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil. Not money,
it's the love of it. which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith, pierced themselves through with
many sorrows." He says, oh man of God, flee these things. Flee
these things. Oh, he says, turn my eye, incline my heart unto
thy testimonies and not to covetousness. David knew that the greatest
deterrent was God's Word, God's promises to this thing of covetousness. If it is in my heart, there's
no place else for anything else to be there. Turn my heart toward
Thy Word and away from the world and gain. Don't let worthless
things take the place of God in my heart. That's what he's
saying. Listen here, Spurgeon cited William Cowper in this,
"'It is a handmaid of all sins, for there is no sin which a covetous
man will not serve for his gain. We should beware of all sins,
but especially of mother sins.'" He calls this a mother sin, covetousness. "'And we should never be afraid
to ask God to help us not to give in to particular sins we
are prone to. And I think David was prone to
this, no doubt. I mean, he never got over what
he did with Bathsheba and what covetousness did to him. And turn away, because he says
here in verse 37, turn away mine eyes from beholding, not glancing,
beholding, gazing, vanity, vanity. and quicken thou me in thy way."
David knew well his eye problem. He knew his eye problem. And this eye problem started
in the garden. Listen to these scriptures in
Genesis 3, 4-7. And the serpent said unto the
woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the
day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. And ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman
saw, she saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes. And a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave
also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes
of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked. And they were ashamed. They sewed
fig leaves together and made themselves apron. We need God to turn our eyes,
and I know this, and I know you know this, because we live in
a world of advertisement, my soul. It's just coming at you
at a breakneck speed constantly, just constantly. The sales world, advertising
world, they know human nature. They have studied human nature.
They know how to keep you coming back. They know how to grab your
attention. They are professionals at it.
Satan has taught them well. He's taught them well, and they
know how to do that. And they know how to get to the
eye gate, get to that eye gate. I mean, you know, there have
been times I've seen a Wendy's hamburger, and I thought, I've got to go
to Wendy's. I have. I was hungry. They know what
they're doing. They know what they're doing.
They can get to you through the eye gate. That's how Satan got
to Eve. He got her looking at that tree
and then she started thinking. Behold. Beholding, David said. Turn my eyes from beholding.
Not glancing, but beholding. That's what David did when he
was stood on that balcony. He was beholding Bathsheba. Just looking and looking and
looking. And it got him. We need God to turn our eyes.
Listen, not shut them. He didn't ask God to shut his
eyes. He said, turn my eyes. Turn them away from vanity and
turn them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn them to beholding. Your
glory in the face of Jesus Christ is what we want. And quicken
Thou me in the way, revive me in the way, renewed energy, lively
as opposed to dead and lukewarm. Lord, revive me. as I come to
the service. Revive me before I get there.
Revive my heart. Revive my energy. Revive my enthusiasm,
my interest. Revive my interest. We are so prone to deadness because
of sin. Because of sin, we're so prone
to slumber and sleep. Make us to see the true riches
of the Lord Jesus Christ one more time. Open my eyes. Open my heart. Renew the energy,
the spiritual energy He's talking about. Quicken thou me in the way. And
this is for us right here. It's for us to follow after the
Lord Jesus Christ with our whole heart fervently. Our Lord said
this, he that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hates
his life in this world shall keep it until life eternal. And then he says, establish thy
word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear. Establish
your word to your servant as much the same as Mary when she
said to Gabriel regarding the word that he brought to her,
she said, Let it be to me according to your word." We ought to pray
that God establishes His promises to us that He's given us in the
gospel. Pray for them. Pray for them.
Let me turn over here to 2 Samuel chapter 7. Let me read you something
here. Here's the Scripture that explains
what he's talking about. Let me see. 2 Samuel 7.25. And now, O Lord, the word that
thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house,
establish it forever, and do as thou hast said." That's what
he's saying. Lord, establish your promises. Do as you have said. Let us experience
the promises. I want to experience the promises
of God while I'm living here on this earth. That's what David
is asking for. We are to pray for this. He says over there in verse 49,
look what David says in verse 49 of Psalm 119, "'Remember the
word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.'" Now he says, "'Establish thy
word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear.'" He said,
I'm devoted to... Thy fear, I'm your servant. That's
what he's saying, I'm your servant. Devoted to a right fear of God.
Never to take God lightly. Never to use his name lightly. Never to have a lower estimation
of God. Devoted to God's fear, devoted
to his service, devoted to reverence of God. Never to say, the man upstairs,
My co-pilot, never use such blasphemous language. I'm devoted to your
fear. When I use your name, I want
it to be in total respect and awe. Or don't use it at all. Don't
use it at all. And then verse 39, Turn away
my reproach which I fear, for thy judgments are good. I believe every child of God
here can identify with this. He's not talking about suffering
for Christ's sake or suffering for the Gospel's sake. He's saying
this. This is what I know. Every child
of God fears of bringing reproach on the Lord's name by some sinful
conduct, which David had already done. Don't let me do that again. Have
you prayed like this? I've prayed this before. Lord,
don't let me bring reproach on Your name. I know. I know I'm
a sinful man. As Peter said one time, Lord,
depart from me, I'm a sinful man. And I know that if God doesn't
keep me, I'll bring reproach on His name. I'll say something
that I shouldn't say. And once said, always said, you
can't unsay it. Like a bullet when it leaves
a gun, you can't bring it back. And this is what he's saying,
turn away my reproach which I fear. I fear bringing reproach on your
name. Oh, please don't let me do that.
David knew this by experience. It's like Paul said in one place,
that which I would not, that I do. I know that's in me. And He says this, "...for thy
judgments are good." There's nothing wrong with God's judgments,
whether He's saving, whether He's damning, or whether He's
chastening. God's judgments are right. What the Lord does is
right. And I agree with them. They're
good. They're good. If He's chastening me, it's good.
You know, I never told my parents when they were chasing me and
when they were whipping me and I was dancing around in a circle
and they was switching me. I didn't tell them, well, this
is good. But all these years later, I
can say this is good. This is good. One of these days we can look
back on those times when the Lord chastened us, when He put
us through a difficult trial, and you know what we'll say?
We'll say what Jacob said when he wrestled with the angel. He
said, He blessed me there. He blessed me there. And last of all, Behold, I have
longed after thy precepts, quicken me in thy righteousness. My heart's
desire, expressed here as longing, is to thy precepts." God's precepts. Love your neighbor as yourself.
That's good. I love that. Lord, help me to
do it. Help me to love my neighbor as
myself. Help me to pray for my enemies. Help me to pray for
those who despitefully use me. Help me to love you with all
my heart and soul and mind. Help me to do that. God's precepts
are good. Every believer wants to love
more. They want to believe God more.
I've longed after thy precepts, longed to keep them, longed to
read them, study them, understand them, and put them into practice.
I've earnestly desired to know them more and do them better,
Matthew Henry said. Quicken me in thy righteousness. Who is the righteousness of God?
The Lord Jesus Christ. Quicken me in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Quicken me in His righteousness. The Scripture says that Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Quicken
me. Give me life. Put life in me.
Put life in me. I don't want this to be a dead
ceremonial service. I want this to be living. I want
this to be living. I want to know You. I want to
worship You. I want to walk with You. I want to walk in the light of
Your Word. Lord, listen to this, listen to these, listen to these,
real quickly. And I pray the Lord, and I pray
this today, and I pray the Lord will answer this prayer to me
and to you. Teach me. Teach me, O Lord. Give me understanding. Make me
to go in the path of thy commandments. Incline my heart to your testimony.
Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity. Establish thy word unto
thy servant. Turn away my reproach which I
fear. Quicken me in thy righteousness. Isn't that a prayer? I wouldn't
have thought he'd answer that to us tonight. All right.