I guess I could preach from first
to second, John. That would fit. I'm glad to be here. I enjoy
preaching here. You seem to pull the gospel out
of me. It's an honor to stand in this pulpit, and it's humbling.
Because I know your pastor and I know the power that he preaches
in and the clarity that he preaches with. It's humbling to stand
here, to be asked to even come here and stand in his place. I thank so much of him. Turn to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. We'll just look at
these first eight verses for a few minutes here this evening. Blessed are the undefiled in
the way. It's good to start out with blessed. Happy. Are you happy? You know, I told Vicki this,
and she feels the same way. I said, I am as happy, I'm happier
than I've ever been. My dad told this to my brothers
and sisters probably a year or so ago after Vicki and I had
visited. He said, I believe John and Vicki
are the happiest of all of you. And I told Dad later, I said,
I am because I believe I'm doing the Lord's will. I believe I
am where I'm supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be
doing. And I'm happy. I'm happy. Blessed. Blessed of God. Just the fact that you have that
book, the Bible, in your lap, And God's given you an understanding
of the Gospel, how blessed you are. You know how many people,
seven billion, over seven billion people in this world, and how
few understand the Gospel? And we know that understanding
is God-given. It's not that we're more intelligent.
It's God-given. Now, when the Word of God says
that we are blessed or happy, It is always in reference to
spiritual matters. You know that? It's always in
reference to spiritual matters. The world sees blessed or happy
in the things it possesses. But we are happy in the one who
possesses us and the blessings that we have in Jesus Christ.
We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. in Christ. We have in Jesus Christ
absolutely everything we need to stand in God's presence. We
have it all. He says all spiritual blessings. Ephesians chapter 1. All of them.
Not one missing. Not one that we have to come
up with. He's given it all to us. all of it. Now this psalm
starts out with Elif, that's the first letter in the Hebrews
alphabet and you know, I think you know this, that each section
starts with an alphabet out of the Hebrew alphabet. Now it says
here in verse 1, blessed are the undefiled in the way who
walk in the law of the Lord. This applies, first of all, to
the Lord Jesus Christ who is undefiled. Our righteousness,
our holiness is in Him. He is the Lord our righteousness.
Thank God we don't have to come up with one because we can't.
We can't. It's an absolute impossibility
for us to come up with a righteousness that God can accept. But in Jesus
Christ, the undefiled, we are undefiled. Blessed are the undefiled
in the way which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the undefiled
and He's the way. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I am the way. And we who are
in Christ, who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, We are undefiled
and we are undefiled in Him, in the way. You know, there is
a holy nation. There is one holy nation on this
earth. There really is. It's the church. Go over to 1 Peter, not right
now, but you go over sometime to 1 Peter and read 1 Peter 2.9
where he talks about a peculiar people, a holy nation. God has one holy nation in heaven
and on earth right now, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
Him, we are holy. We are holy. Now, happy, blessed,
or the undefiled in the way, I know this, to understand this
statement, you must have an understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Or you'll not understand this,
or you'll twist it for sure. You'll get it twisted. We must
have an understanding of our union to the Lord Jesus Christ
and His person and work. We are vitally joined to Him. He said, I am the branch, I am
the vine, and you are the branches. That's a union, that is a connection.
The branches join to the vine. Listen here in 1 John 4, 17.
As He is, so are we in this world. How is He? He's undefiled. He's righteous. He's God's Holy
Son. So are we. Even as we walk through
this world in this life, we are undefiled in Christ. in Christ. Now, by experience, I don't have
that by experience, because by experience I have sinned. And
I experience that daily. Daily. But I know, and this is
one of the things I have enjoyed about growing older in Christ. Not just growing older. But growing
older in Christ. Is that I understand my standing
in Christ. When I was younger, I was more,
I'm trying to figure out how to say this, there was more feeling
involved in it. Honestly, there's more faith
involved in it now. I take God at His Word. I keep
telling my youngest son, he's been calling me a lot about the
Gospel, and I've told him, take God at His Word. But I feel so
bad, take God at His Word. Take Him at His Word. You'll
feel different tomorrow. But that Word won't be different.
That Word will be the same. Learn to stand on God's Word.
Take Him at His Word. God's never broken His promise.
God's never broken His Word. Stand on it. You know, there's
a scripture in the Gospel of John. I'm not going to quote
the whole verse. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And I've held on to this for almost 50 years
now. And Him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. In all these years that I have
believed, I've given God plenty of reason to cast me out. But
He promised. And this is the best way to pray.
The best way to pray is to take God's own word to Him. Lord,
You said You wouldn't cast me out. You said If I come to you,
he that cometh to me, I will not cast out. Lord, I come. Take
God at His Word. Take Him at His Word. But here,
listen, let me get back to this verse. We've got to have an understanding
of our union in the Lord Jesus Christ. And to have this understanding,
listen, the Holy Spirit has to reveal it to us. He has to make
it known to us. It comes by revelation, not education. It's revealed to us. Now, I know
the Scripture says, all thy children shall be taught of God, but they're
taught of God through revelation. He reveals Himself to us. He
reveals the truth to us. You say, I see. I understand. I see. I remember when I first
heard my Pastor Henry preaching on television, I remember it
just plain as can be. It was like someone turned the
light on. And I said, I see, I understand what he's saying
matches what I'm reading. For the first time in my life,
what I was hearing preached matched what I was reading in the Word
of God. But for this to happen, listen,
for this to happen, a man or woman must be born again. Isn't
that what the Lord said to Nicodemus? He said, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. You can't understand any of this,
apart from the new birth, apart from the Spirit of God revealing
it to you. Because until the new birth,
you have nothing to put it in. He said, You don't put new wine
into old wineskins or it will burst. They don't go together. God has to give us a new heart,
a new nature in order to receive the truth. in order to receive
it in. Because that old nature is not
going to receive it. It's not going to receive it. All who are in Christ, now listen,
all who are in the Lord Jesus Christ are undefiled. Do you know that? I asked Johnny Cumberland here
a little bit ago, I said, do you feel undefiled? No, he said,
I feel defiled. We don't feel undefiled, do we?
Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? But I know better. I know this. I know that by experience, what
Paul's saying. But I know by faith what I have
in Jesus Christ. I know that in Christ I'm undefiled. I know that in Christ I'm righteous.
Listen to this in Colossians 2.10. And ye are complete in
Him, which is the head of all principality and power. In Colossians
121-122, And you that were some time alienated and enemies in
your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the
body of his flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in
his sight. You know, God said to Satan,
Have you considered my servant Job perfect? He called him a
perfect, upright man. Ephesians 4.24, that you put
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. That's that new man, that new
nature that's born of God. These are the undefiled and they
are blessed. They are blessed beyond measure.
You know, God has blessed us with infinite blessings. God
being infinite, His blessings are infinite. All the blessings
we have in Christ are unmeasurable. They're unmeasurable. We are really going to be astounded
here in just a little while. I'll start saying one day. In
a little while. It's not long. It's not long from any of us,
really. I was thinking today, walking across the parking lot,
back over from the church building to the parsonage, I thought,
and the thought just struck me, it won't be long, and I'll be
able to look into the face of Jesus Christ, the one I preach,
week after week after week, and then like that, I'm going to
be, in a short while, I'm 67, You know, I'm not going to live
another 67, I can tell you, not here. And I'm going to see Jesus
Christ when I preach week after week. That just makes me want
to preach Him even more until that time comes. I want to be
faithful to it. But we are in Christ, and in
Christ we are undefiled. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
the way that we are undefiled. He's the way. And here's the
manner of the life of the Lord's people. You
see, the first three verses are a description of the Lord's people. The first three verses are a
description of them. And they fit the Lord Jesus Christ
first. And then they fit us in Him.
But listen here. Here's their manner of life.
Who walk in the law of the Lord. They live and do. They live and
do, not do and live. What's the law say? Do and live. Ours is not do and live. Ours
is live and do. Ours is live and do. We are doers
of the Word. We look into God's Word and we
seek His will in His Word to do His will. We're doers of the
Word. God's people walk in the written
revelation of God in His Word. We walk according to the gospel,
according to the truth of the gospel, according to the precepts
of the gospel. We love one another, don't we?
She said, this is my commandment, that you love one another. We read the word of God. Why
do you read the word of God? I put an article in our bulletin
last week. And I put this in there, I said, do not read the
Word of God in order to prove a position or an argument, but
read the Word of God, study the Word of God that you may grow
in grace and in knowledge of Jesus Christ, that you may grow
more and more and more in grace and in knowledge. You can't exhaust
the wisdom of God and Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. You can't
do it. So we read the Word of God that
we might grow in grace and knowledge of Christ and walk accordingly. To walk in the Spirit and not
after the flesh. That's what it says over in Romans
8.1. And walking denotes one's life. This is the life of a believer
being described here. This is our journey home. And
as we journey home, we look unto the Word of God We seek the Lord's
will and we ask Him to open the Scriptures to us. You know, especially
as I've gotten older, you know, I read the Word of God and I
ask the Lord to open the Scriptures far more than I open a commentary
now. I've learned this and I told
my son this the other day, I said, don't go to the commentary first.
When you read the Scripture, I said, go to the Lord. Remember
when he was on the road to Emmaus with those two men, and he opened
their understanding to the Scriptures. It doesn't matter if you've got
the best commentary. And I've got some good commentaries, and
I read them. But they don't open the Scriptures to me. They can give me facts. But only
the Holy Spirit can open the Scriptures to my understanding,
and listen, I feed on it. I get spiritual nourishment out
of it and not just facts out of it. This is a book to feed
on. This book right here, The Word
of God from Genesis to Revelation, these are the green pastures
that we're made to lie down in. Let's learn to lie down in the
green pastures. Let's learn to take rest and relaxation in the
Word of God. We need to make much of the Word
of God. Lord, increase my faith. Well,
get in the Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God, and the increase of faith comes by reading the
Word of God, and hearing the Word of God preached. Saturate
yourself in the Word of God. Because in it, in the Word of
God, is where we find God. It's where we find Him. In His
Word. It's a walk with God is what
it is. It's a walk with God. Isn't that,
that's a beautiful, just a sound to me. Ain't it? Walk with God. Noah walked with God. I want
to walk with God. I want to do it here. I want
to do it here before I die. I want to walk with God. Then
here's another description of God's people in verse 2. Blessed are they that keep his
testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart. Now this
first applies to our Lord. He kept the testimony. I'm going
to say the testimony of the gospel. He kept the testimony of God.
He kept the law of God. He kept the word of God. He kept
everything right down to the jot and till. He did that. And
he did that not just for himself. He did that for us. You know,
before I heard the gospel, I heard of Jesus Christ died on a cross
for sinners and He wants to save you. And then one day I heard
the gospel and I learned that I needed His 33 years of living
as much as I needed His death. I needed His obedience for 33
years in the home, in the civil government, and to God's government,
to God's law, and I needed that. That's my righteousness. And
I needed His death. I needed His blood. I needed
Jesus Christ from Alpha to Omega. And you do, too. You do, too. Oh, blessed, happy are they!
You know, this Word is not a burden to read, is it? And study? It's the children's bread. It's
our bread. God's children are happy to get
into the Word and to seek His Word. And when they read something
to, you know, love your brethren, they want to do that. I want
to keep that. I want to do that. You know the
word testimony is used 23 times in this psalm. But the word, listen, the word
testimony here has the same meaning as a witness. It's a witness. It has the same meaning, listen
here, in 1 John 5.8, and there are three that bear witness in
earth, the Spirit and the Word, the water, which is the Word,
and the blood, and these three agree in one. We keep the witness
of the Gospel. The testimonies of the Gospel,
we keep it. That's what I'm doing right now. We keep it in our hearts. If
my word abide in you? You know the word of God truly
is in the heart of God's children. He put it there. He put it there. It's in your heart. This word
testimony also signifies loyalty to the covenant. Loyalty to the
covenant. It has that meaning also. You know, I thought about this
today and I've never thought about it in this way before. But I
thought, here's what I thought. Would you like to read that covenant
of grace? Here it is. Here in this book
right here, we learn of the covenant of grace and we learn of what's
in that covenant, don't we? To me, reading this is reading
the covenant. It's reading all about Christ,
who the covenant's about. God said, I'll give thee for
a covenant of the people. Well, where's He given? Well,
not only was He given in the flesh, but He's given in His
Word. He was given in His Word before
He was given in the flesh. God's Word is a joy to His children
to keep. Take my yoke upon you, he said,
and learn of me. I am meek and lowly, and you
shall find rest of your soul. We study God's word to know Christ,
and that makes it such a blessing and not a burden. He says in
verse 24 of Psalm 119, Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. You know, I don't know if you
realize this, I'm sure you do, but you know every time the gospel
is preached, you are being counseled. Every time the gospel is preached,
you are being counseled. All you have to do is listen.
Speak, Lord. Teach me this morning. Counsel
me this morning. He's the counselor. I know a
couple of ladies, they were going to be Christian counselors. Christ is the Counselor. He's
the Counselor. And when we stand here and preach
the Gospel, He's counseling you out of His Word. Listen. Listen. Oh, blessed are they that keep
thy testimonies, and that seek... Here's another description. They
seek Him with a whole heart. You know, salvation is a heart
work. It's a heart work. Listen to Jeremiah 24, 7. And
I will give them a heart to know Me. Has God given you a heart
to know Him and seek Him? Is He first and foremost in everything? I'll give them a heart to know
Me. And if He gives you a heart to
know Him, you're going to know Him. And you're going to want
to know Him. You're going to hunger and thirst after Him.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Why are they blessed? Because God made them that way.
God made you hungry and thirsty after righteousness. I know what
I was hungry and thirsty after when I was in my teenage years. Scripture says a man drinks iniquity
like water. That's what I was thirsty for.
Now it's righteousness. Hungry and thirsty after His
righteousness. But salvation is a heart work.
It's a heart work. They seek to know from the heart,
they seek to know more of Him, not in a factual way, but in
a spiritual way. They seek to know Him with affection
and desire. Paul said, oh, oh, that I might
know Him. Oh Lord, reveal Yourself to me.
Make Yourself known to me tonight. Bless me tonight with Your presence. It says in Colossians 9 and 10,
Paul said this, he prayed for them that they would increase,
and this jumped out at me, they would increase in the knowledge
of God. Isn't that something? Increase in the knowledge of
God. Man has a thirst for knowledge, but not for God. I have a thirst
and you have a thirst for the knowledge of God, and I really
don't care about much else. Like my grandson told me once,
he said, I don't try to memorize anything I can look up. I thought,
well, that might not be a bad deal. I've got so much clutter
up there anyway. But here's another description
of God's children. In verse 3, they also do no iniquity. They walk in His ways. This is
their life in, listen, this is their life in Christ. They do
no iniquity. First of all, they don't live
after the flesh. They don't live after the flesh. You don't live after the flesh.
Paul said, O wretched man that I am. But he did not live like
a wretch. But he knew he was one. You know
you are one. But you don't live like one no
more. But that's not, it goes deeper than that. It goes deeper
than this. The believer, listen, the believer is a paradox. They
also do know iniquity. Here's what a paradox is. It's
any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory
nature. The synonym for that is mystery.
You're a mystery. Anomaly. Oddity. Enigma. We sin, we sin, but we don't
sin. Figure that one out. Without the knowledge of the
gospel, there's no way to understand that. We sin, but we don't sin. I know that now. I know, and
I know how it is. Listen to what John wrote, 1
John 1.8. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. In Psalm 51.3, David said, I
acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. That's my experience. That's
my experience. Paul wrote in Romans 7.20. Now, if I do that, I would not.
It's no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. I sin,
but I don't sin. I sin every day, but I never
sin in Christ. In Christ, I'm holy. In Christ,
I'm perfect. God doesn't see sin in me when
He sees me in His Son. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Well, if they're taken away,
there's nothing to see. You can't see what's not there. Look over in Jeremiah. We will
turn to this. Jeremiah chapter 50. Jeremiah chapter 50, look in
verse 20. In those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found. For I will pardon them whom I
reserve. Yeah, that's something. There's
none to be found. The books are clear. The books are clear. And they listen, and they walk
in His ways, in the ways of God, in the ways of the Gospel, in
the ways of Gospel precepts. We walk in them. We walk in them. Now let me move on here. In verse
4, Thou hast commanded, and that word is in this Psalm 21 times. Thou hast commanded us to keep
Thy precepts diligently. The word here has the meaning
of, the precepts here has the meaning of instruction. Instructions. You know, God's people are not
without principles. They're not without instructions. We operate
under the principles of grace. We are instructed by the principles
of the gospel. And the first principle is this,
love one another. That takes care of everything
else. I'll tell you, you love your neighbor as yourself, you
love one another as yourself, and you don't need another thing
said. Just do that. That'll take care of everything.
But the synonym of precept has the meaning of guide. God's Word,
His Word are our precepts. We are guided by His Word, by
His Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes the Word
of God and He guides us with it. That's why it's so important
to be in the Word of God. The Word of God in the hands
of the Holy Spirit guides and instructs us. Listen to Psalm
119, 105. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path. We don't walk in darkness. We
do not walk in darkness. We have the light of the Gospel.
We have the light of Christ who is the light. We have the light
of His Word. We have the light. We are instructed in the Gospel
how to live. Love. Love. Just don't give me
a list of things. Just love one another. This is
my commandment, the Lord said, that you love one another. Now
listen, as I have loved you. How did He love us? Sacrificially. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. He loved us completely, fully. He didn't just love us a little
bit. You know, God can't do anything a little bit. You know, God can't,
I heard someone say this once, that God loved, you know, Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. And someone said that God loved
Esau, it just means he loved him less. God can't love less
and be God. God can't do anything less and
be God. God's love is Full. It's full. It can never be less.
It can never be less. He's loved you with the fullness
of the love of God. The fullness of God's love you've
been loved with. And this shows here, as I said,
how important it is to study the Word of God. It says in Psalm
119, 104, Through thy precepts I get understanding. You want
understanding? Get in the Word of God. Get in
the Word of God and ask Him to open it up. Therefore I hate
every false way. You wouldn't even know a false
way if it wasn't for the Word of God. You wouldn't even know
it. Then he says in verse 5, Oh that
my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. After knowing who
God is, knowing God's greatness, and this is God's Word, this
is the Word of God, Oh God, direct my heart, direct my steps, direct
my thoughts to keep Thy statues. And this word statute has the
meaning of engraved or inscribed. It has the idea of the written
Word of God and the authority of His written Word. Lord, help
me. Help me. Help me to keep them. You want me to keep thy statutes?
David shows his awareness of his need of the Lord's help to
keep his statutes. Are you aware of that? Are you
aware of that? I'm so thankful that the Lord
Jesus Christ did it. He did it. Perfectly. I want
to do it as much as perfectly as I can in this life. Put it
that way. By His grace, by His help, I want to walk in the light
of His gospel and keep it. Keep it. When I think of the
fruit of the Spirit, when I think of the precepts, I think of love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, kindness. You know, I want to
grow and we can grow in these things. I can't grow in election. It is what it is. Isn't it? I can grow in love. I can grow in love. There are
certain doctrines we don't grow in. They are what they are. We
praise God for them. They're the pillars. But we can
grow in joy in the Lord. We can grow in long-suffering.
There are things we can grow in, the fruit of the Spirit.
We can grow in these things. Every child of God knows that
he or she cannot have full control of their thoughts, their affections, and we need
the Lord to help us. Lord, help us to control our
thoughts, to arrest our thoughts, don't let them just roll along
or go unchecked. You know, there are thoughts
that I have and I'm like, whoa now, that's not of God. And you purposely get your mind
on something else or get your mind on the Lord. We are to bring all our thoughts,
the Scripture says, into subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, help me do that. Help me
do that. Help us, Lord, to do this. You know, it says in John 15,
12, this is my commandment that you love one another. Lord, help
me to do it as I've loved you. Help me to do that. Help me to
love you as Christ loved me and you as He did. Not just love
one another, but to love as He did. He's the measure of love. He is. And then listen here in
verse 6. If the Lord will direct and guide
my steps, then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto
all thy commandments. If the Lord will help me do this,
I will not be ashamed, nor bring shame on his name. I will not
be ashamed to come to his throne, nor ashamed at his appearing.
I won't be ashamed. Lord, if you help me do this,
if you guide my steps and enable me to do this, I will not be
ashamed. I won't bring reproach on your
name and I won't be ashamed when you appear. Verse 7, I want us
to see here how the Word of God, and here's the importance, I
want you to see the importance of the Word of God and know of
saturating yourself in the Word of God. The Word of God removes
our ignorance and enables us to worship God in spirit and
in truth. In verse 7, I will praise thee
with uprightness, sincerity of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. You know, the word here, judgment here,
is deciding a case or a verdict. And when I have learned how God
can be just and justify me, And when he passes that verdict
and says, not guilty, I'll praise him for it because I understand
how he can do it. I understand how he can do it.
I understand this. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect, it's God that justifies. Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather than risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. I will praise Thee with
sincerity of heart when I shall have learned Thy righteous judgments. When we see the cross of Christ,
we see the righteous judgment of God falling on Him that could
have fallen on us. And I praise God that My substitute
took it, and I'm free. Whom the Son sets free is free
indeed. And last of all, verse 8, I will keep thy statutes. We know the Lord did this. He
can say, I will. I will. I want to. I desire to.
I do. I do. I desire to do so. And
I think God, our Lord, can say, I will keep them. I will keep
thy statutes, O forsake me not utterly. But I know this, I will
by his grace keep his statutes, his precepts, his commandments
of the gospel, keeping the gospel. He's speaking here of the gospel.
The whole word of God. The whole revealed will of God
in the gospel. But he says here, O forsake me
not. David knew what it was to lose the joy of God's salvation.
He didn't want to do that again. He didn't want that to happen
again. And David was continually aware
of his need of the Lord's help and presence. Are you aware of
that? Lord, don't forsake me utterly.
I know... To be forsaken of God is hell.
Christ said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he utterly forsook him. But not us. Not us. Not us in Christ. We are a blessed
people. Happy. I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm happy. I have
aches and pains in this body, but I'm happy in Christ. And I thank God to grow older
in Christ. I wouldn't want to go back and
start over again. I wouldn't want to. I know people have said
this and I said this. I said, there are things I'd
do different. Not now. I'd be so self-righteous you
wouldn't be having me here. If you take any of those things
over, I'd do some things I wouldn't have done. You'd just be self-righteous. You'd be so self-righteous you'd
stink the place up. Let's stand and give B.E. Smith
a prayer.