Go back to Psalm 119 now with
me. We looked at Psalm 119, every
verse, in eight. If you'll notice, there are 22
of them. It's the Hebrew alphabet. And there are eight verses in
each psalm, 22 psalms, 176 verses. We looked at these 21 years ago,
so it's been quite some time. We've looked at these eight verses
six or seven times. They mean a lot to me, as they
do to you, I know. I've entitled this a psalm for
me. David keeps saying, teach me,
quicken me, make me, establish me. He's praying for himself
here. David often prays for Israel,
for his brothers and sisters, as we're told to do. Pray for
the peace of Jerusalem. After this matter, pray, Our
Father which art in heaven, lead us, give us, forgive us. But this is a very personal prayer
and psalm. We're told to speak to ourselves
in psalms and hymns. We need to hear this for ourselves. We need to take it very personally.
Public prayer is a blessing, isn't it? It's a blessing when
somebody leads in prayer. But private prayer is very needful,
very needful. So this is a personal thing,
a needful thing. We need to hear this more than
anyone else, ourselves. Teach me, make me. You see, our
biggest problem is not other people. It's me. It's us. You are not my problem. I am. I'm not your problem. It's you. And the sooner we realize
that, the more humble we'll be, more loving, more merciful, gracious,
compassionate, forgiving, kind. We would. You know that? Teach
me. This is how it begins in verse
33. Teach me, O Lord. the way of thy statutes, and
I shall keep it, or hold out unto the end. Teach me, O Lord."
You know, if we really learn something, you don't need to
keep being taught it, do you? If you really learn something,
you don't need to be taught it over and over again. So what
does that say about us? If we really learn from our mistakes,
we won't repeat them, will we? David says this over and over
in Psalm. Teach me, teach me, teach me. Psalm 25, and we'll not leave
these verses much tonight, but Psalm 25, go over here. David
says it several times in Psalm 25. Look at verse 4. Psalm 25,
4. Show me thy ways, O Lord. Teach
me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me. to God of my salvation. Verse
8, good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners
in the way. Verse 9, the meek will he guide
in judgment, the meek will he teach his way. Verse 12, what
man is he that fears the Lord, him shall he teach in the way. I need to be taught over and
over again, I'm like a little child. Well, the brethren, well
Steve, Montgomery texted me and said,
why don't we learn? We keep repeating the same thing. Well, that's why the Lord keeps
teaching us. They should all be taught of God. And like a
faithful parent, He keeps teaching us the same thing. Teach me,
verse 33, the way of thy statue. The way. Christ is the way. The way of the transgressor is
hard. Christ said, My yoke is easy.
My burden is light. Teach me to follow Christ, to
hear Christ, to look to Christ. Teach me. Take His yoke upon
Him. Learn of Him. The way of man is wrong. It ends
in destruction. Teach me the right way. Christ
is the way. Statutes means appointments. Teach me, O Lord, the way of
Thy statutes. unto a man who wants to die.
And God hath appointed a day in which he'll judge the world
in righteousness by that man, by Jesus Christ. But he hath
not appointed us unto wrath, but unto salvation. Why? Because
Christ is our salvation. So teach me. Christ is the Word
of God personified in me. Teach me that Christ is all.
And I will lay hold of him. Believing Him, trusting Him,
looking to Him all my life. To the end. Isn't that what you
want? I want to hold fast to the end. My confidence is Christ. The way. Teach me that Christ
is all. Verse 34. Give me understanding. Now turn to Proverbs chapter
Proverbs chapter 8. Proverbs chapter 8. Give me understanding. Don't you love Proverbs 8? It's
all about our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at that. Verse 4. Proverbs
8. Unto you, O men, I call, and
women, young people, O ye simple, verse 5, understand wisdom, ye
fools. Be of an understanding heart. Hear, I'll speak excellent things. We hear so many voices out there,
don't we? We need to shut our ears to every
voice but His voice. Hear, verse 6, I'll speak of
excellent things. The opening of my lips shall
be right things. My mouth shall speak truth. Wickedness
is an abomination of my lips. All the words of my mouth are
in righteousness. There's nothing forward or perverse
in them. They're all plain to him that
understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. Keep reading.
Receive my instruction, not silver, knowledge rather than choice
go. Wisdom, Christ is better than rubies. All the things that
may be desired are not to be compared to him. I, wisdom, or
Christ dwell with prudence. Find out knowledge of witty inventions.
Fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogancy and the evil
way and the forward mount do I hate. Counsel is mine and sound
wisdom. I am understanding." So he says,
give me understanding in our text. Give me Christ. Give me an understanding of Him. And it says in verse 34, and
I shall keep thy law. Well, if I understand Christ
aright, in Christ I have kept the law.
You understand? I want to keep the law. I love
the law of God. It's holy, it's just, it's good.
It's right, it's true, it's just, but I can't. Try as I may, I
can't. Christ did. And if you understand
the gospel, Christ came to fulfill the law. Alright? So give me an understanding that
Christ is my law keeper, and it's not that I'm not without
law, to God, but I'm under law to who? Christ. What's His law? His commandments are not grievous. And He said, do what I say, follow
me. He doesn't put us under the mosaic
law, the biblical law, the law of love, grace. You're not under
law, you're under grace. So your salvation doesn't depend
on you keeping it. Depends on Christ keeping it.
You understand that? Now, verse 34, it says, Yea,
I shall observe it with my whole heart. You know, observe means
to look to and ponder and meditate and keep your eye on it. That's
Christ. We need to keep our eyes on Him
with our whole heart. I love, let's see if I can find
it, I think it, yeah, I've quoted this many times, as the eyes
of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes
of a maiden under the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait
upon the Lord, our God, until he has mercy upon her. To look
to Christ, and this whole psalm, these eight verses, is David
and us looking to the Lord. It's like you have pets that
look to you for everything. If you have an indoor pet, they're
completely dependent on you for everything. Their food, their
drink, their safety, their affection, everything. If you left them
alone, they would die. But you won't, will you? You'd
love them. Even though they're an old worthless
cat or dog, they're worthless, aren't they? But not to you.
You love them. And they look to you. They look
to you. And they need you. How much more is our Heavenly
Father going to provide for those that look to Him? So we look
to Him. Give me, Lord, give me. This
is a good gimme. All our life we were born saying,
gimme, gimme, gimme. Our Lord knows that. He knows
we're frail. He knows we're weak. He knows
we're helpless. We're just flesh. We need somebody to take care
of us. Somebody to teach us. Somebody
to give us everything we've got. Everything we get is by grace.
Give me. Give me, please. Give me. Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us. Give me. Verse 35, make me. Make me to go in the path of
Thy commandments, for therein do I like. Make me. If you feel
like you're a sheep of His, prone to wander, you're sure glad He
makes you to lie down in green pasture. Makes you to sit together
in heavenly places. Make me. If He didn't make us,
we wouldn't come. He made us to sit together Made
you sit and lie down. Made us to go. Make me to go
in the path of thy commandment. Don't let me wander. Don't let me wander. The story
of Christian pilgrim's progress. He and his faithful and his friend
were walking on the path and the evangelist told them to stay
in the path now. Stay in the way. It's straight,
it's narrow, don't get out of the way. And they looked over
here and there was a whole bunch of people in this great big wide
way and they looked like they was all having fun and all that.
It's called bypass method. And they all looked, well, look
at all these people, they're doing all right, this broad way. So they turned aside and they
straightened their way and went on this broad way. And they fell
asleep and that's when they ended up in Doubting Castle under the
giant despair. And they didn't think they were
ever going to get out. Remember that? If you read it.
Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein
do I deny it. Verse 36, incline me. Incline
my heart. My heart, my flesh that is, is
naturally inclined to flesh. Is that yours? Our flesh is inclined
to do evil and sin. Oh, give me a new heart. David
in Psalm 51, boy, that's a personal psalm, isn't it? Create in me. Wash me. Thoroughly. Create in me a clean heart. Renew
within me a right spirit. Incline my heart, O Lord, unto
Thy testimonies. Set my affection, O Lord. I know
He tells us to set our affection. But if He doesn't do it, we won't
do it. Without Him, we can do nothing.
Set my affection, my heart, on Thy testimonies. What are His
testimonies? That's what you're looking at
right now. But the testimony, the witness of God is concerning
His Son. Set my heart on things above
where Christ sitteth. Let me desire Him more than anything
or anyone else, and that way I won't be turned aside. And
I'll be with Him sometimes. Inclined by heart, not to covetousness. Covetousness, that's what, that's
our natural inclination to covet things. And oh, he said, set
your affection not on things on the earth, but things on the
earth, eternal things. Because eternal things are just
that, eternal. All right, look at verse 37.
Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. Turn my eyes. We sing
a song every now and then, Turn my eyes upon the Lord Jesus. You know, our eyes are so prone
to wander. Our eyes are just, we lust the
eyes and lust the flesh and the pride of life. And we look here,
oh, that looks good. And we look there, and Satan
is a master. And that's what happened to Eve
in the garden then. That's the first thing she saw. It was good
for food. No, it's not good. It's bad. To make one wise, she heard a
lie. Turn mine eyes from beholding
vanity. What's vanity? What is vanity? Somebody. Everything. That's
right. All. All flesh. Name something
that's not vanity. Name something other than what
we're doing right now, something other than Christ, that is not
vanity. And vanity means empty, unsatisfactory,
will not suffice, will not give you what it promises, will not
fulfill you, will not make you happy, will not make you secure,
will not make you whatever you're looking for. It's vanity. Name
something that's not vanity. He said it. It's what the Ecclesiastes
said. It's vanity of vanity. All flesh
is vanity. Why do I lust after these things that are not going
to benefit me? So, he said, turn away my eyes
from beholding vanity. Oh, my eyes, my tongue, my feet,
my heart, turn away vanity. Look at verse 37. in the way. Quicken thou, Proverbs
4, one more in Proverbs, Proverbs 4. Quicken thou me in the way,
in the way to heaven. Quicken me. The young people,
I hope you're listening. I hope you'll read this. I hope
you turn to these scriptures. This is speaking to children,
young people. Proverbs 4. Take the opportunity to read
these for yourself. Proverbs 4, look at this. Verse
20. My son, attend to my words, incline
thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine
eyes. See, Solomon's writing this, and he heard, he learned
from his father, didn't he? Sounds just like what David said.
Keep them in the midst of thine heart. Verse 21. They are life
unto those that find them, health to all their flesh. Keep thy
heart with all diligence. Out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee a froward mouth, perverse lips. Put far
from thee. Let thine eyes look right on. Let thine eyelids look straight
before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet. And let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand or
to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. The same thing David
said in Solomon. Quicken thou me in the way, Christ
the way. Do you ever feel like you're
dead? Dead? Quickening means to give
life. What is it that deadens us? Dead
things. What's dead things? Everything
in this world. Dead and dying. quicken me in
the way, quicken my heart in the things of God. Look at verse
38. Establish thy word unto thy servant. Let it be settled in my heart. Write it on my heart. Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 10. Let it be established. Let me read this to you. You
don't have to turn, but I like this, what Simon Peter said about
being established. He said, The God of all grace
who called us unto His eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after
you've suffered a while. And all through Psalm 119, it
talks about afflictions. Afflictions. It's good for me
that I've been afflicted. I've learned thy statute. Before I was afflicted, I went
astray. And God afflicts us and chastens
us because we get too attached to these things when we ought
to be more attached to Him. So after you've suffered a while, make you perfect, mature. Establish. Establish you. Grounded. Settled. Strengthen
you. Strong in the faith. My body
is getting weak. And yours, the older people,
getting weak. I want my faith to get stronger.
Strengthen, settle you. Settle you. I want to be settled.
I don't want anything to be able to bother me. How? Establish Thy Word. Establish
me in Thy Word. Let the Word of God be established
in my heart and mind. That God is true. And everything
He says is true. Take Him at His Word. Trust Him. Everything He says. Trust His
Son. Verse 38, Establish Thy Word unto Thy servant who is
devoted to Thy fear. And this is talking to God's
people. David truly feared the Lord.
He did, didn't he? We read in Psalm 25 that He'd
teach those that fear Him, He'll teach the way. God's people really
do fear Him. Religion says in my heart there's
no fear of God. But God's people, they fear His
person. I was reading in Spurgeon's Treasury
of David about these verses, and you know the Jews, would
not write God's name. They so revered his name that
they wouldn't use it all the time. They fearfully feared his
name. They reverenced his name so highly,
at least that's what they say. But God's people fear his name. That's what distinguishes them
from the world. They fear his word. We tremble at his word.
There's some things we read that just, oh, my. Like the people
in Ezra that heard the law and they were weeping because they
had broken it. And, oh my, they fear they have
great reverence and respect and devotion to God's glory. They really do. They don't want
to do anything. We fear sinning against the Lord.
We fear leaving Him. We fear Him casting us out. See, fear will temper what you
do. Fear of the Lord is clean, Scripture
says. By the fear of the Lord, men
depart from evil. Oh, let us be devoted to His fear. Unite
in our heart to fear Thy Name. Verse 39, Turn away my reproach
which I fear. Oh, my. I fear. Don't you fear bringing
reproach upon your Lord? The word reproach is shame. And the word that we use more
than anything else is embarrassing. Have you ever done something
embarrassing? Have you ever done something to embarrass those
that you love and embarrass yourself? It just fills you full of shame. And we ought to fear embarrassing
our God. We ought to fear embarrassing
our brothers and sisters. We ought to fear embarrassing
our wives and our family and all that. Bring an embarrassment
upon them. Shouldn't we? And last of all, but at least,
is ourselves. I fear bringing a reproach upon
them. That will regulate you. That
will restrain you. This fear of Bring your reproach. He says, Thy judgments are good.
Psalm 51 is, as I said, one of the most personal psalms in all
of the Scripture. And David said this about God's
judgment. He said, Against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. I. Me. I.
Nobody is to blame. It's me. All my problems are.
My problems are not anybody else. They're me. Adam and Eve, they both sinned
against God, didn't they? Who'd they have to blame? Well,
they started blaming, Eve blamed the serpent and Adam blamed the
woman. No, you have only yourself to blame. Right? And when David
found that out, when Nathan sold him, thou art the man. You're
the one. Don't blame anybody else. You
can't do anything about anybody else. So David said, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
and you're going to be justified when you speak, and you'll be
clear when you judge me. And that's when he goes on to
say, oh, purge me. Wash me. Make me to hear joy
and gladness. Create in me. Renew a right spirit
within me. Cast me not away from thy prayer. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
me. See, this is a psalm for me.
This is a psalm for you. Thy judgments are good. God's
judgments are good. His dealings, however He deals
with us, it's going to be right. It's going to be just. It's going
to be true. And thank God Christ bore. He hath not dealt with
us after our sin. But if He chastens me, if I bring reproach upon Him and
He chastens me, like David. David brought reproach upon the
Lord, so David was embarrassed in front of everybody. And it
was good. Habeas said, it's right. Whatever you do is right. Verse 40, Behold, I have longed
after thy precept. Is this psalm for you? Psalm
for me. Is this psalm for you? Do you
long after His Word? Does your soul have a longing
for Christ, for God? David said this, quoted all the
time, one thing of I desire of the Lord, and that will I seek
Him. Is that you? Is it really? Don't
say this to me. Say it to the Lord. David said
that to the Lord. One thing of I desire of the
Lord, and that will I seek Him, that I may dwell in the house.
Lord, you said seek thy faith. And so thy faith I seek. And
it's one thing I desire. I've longed after thy precepts.
Quicken me. Give me life. Give me life in
Thy righteousness. What's that? Now let me close. Twenty-eight minutes. Let me
close with this, okay? In the New Testament, Paul picks
up this very strain in Philippians. Philippians chapter 3. Go there
with me and I'll close a bit. It said, quicken me in thy righteousness. All right, what does that mean?
Christ is the way. And we've been looking at that
in this psalm. And look at this, in Philippians
3, Paul says, verse 7, what things were gained to me and lost. The more I gain in this world,
I think the more I lose spiritually. Don't you? Better little with
the fear of the Lord than great treasure with trouble doing it.
And we're all guilty of it. We've accumulated so much stuff,
it gets in the way. It hinders us spiritually. It
really does. It drags us down. Yeah, doubtless, verse 8, I count
all things but loss. The excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord. And Paul said, I have suffered
the loss of all things. You count it but dumb. It's rubbish,
but manure. You know, everything turns to
manure. Yes, it does. That I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness. So few people know what that
means. You do, don't you? Quicken me in thy righteousness.
Which is of the law. But that which is through the
faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. Oh, that I might know Him. That
doesn't mean about Him. That means have a relationship
with Him. Be united to Him. Commune with
Him. Be one with Him. The power of His resurrection. Oh, never die. The fellowship of his suffering
on the cross be made conformal unto his death, crucified with
Christ, buried with him, but living the life I live by the
faith of the Son of God. If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. He says, it's not as though
I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after. And that's what David is praying for back there. I
want to apprehend that for which I'm also apprehended of Christ.
Brethren, I count not myself apprehended, but this one thing
I do, like David said, one thing. Forget those things behind, reaching
forth under those things before I press. This is a pressing matter.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. And let us, therefore, as many
as be perfect or mature in the faith, be thus minded. If anything
you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal this unto you. Oh,
Lord. Oh, Lord, please, quicken me. Quicken me in the way. Teach
me. Lead me. Make me. Incline me. If He doesn't do it, we can't. Okay, stand with me.