Go back to Psalm 119 with me. If I had a title, it would be
Eight Things to Ask of the Lord, or Eight Requests that are Sure
to be Granted. Many of you may know that every
verse except one in Psalm 119 speaks of God's Word. Every single
verse some reference to God's Word, be it statutes, judgments,
precepts, commands, laws, all the different things, the way
that speaks of His Word. And this psalm, like all of the
psalms, is full of prayers. Many of the verses, anyway, are
a prayer. He's asking the Lord to use the Word, to do something
through His Word for him, in him, to him. But this particular,
one of the writers brought this to my attention, these particular
eight verses, and they're all broken up into eight verses.
You notice that? Each portion, the 22 eight-verse
stanzas, and each stanza begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And if we had a real understanding,
we'd know why. But the Lord knew. But anyway, each first verse
begins with that letter of the Hebrew alphabet. One of the old
writers did say this about David. He said he was infinitely greater
in his poetic ability and his prose and his eloquence. And he started naming all these
poets that people brag on, which is true. It's so true. The sweet
psalmist of Israel, because the Lord is the one that taught these
psalms to his heart and taught him how to write them and sing
them. But these eight verses, every single line is a prayer.
Every single line is asking the Lord to do something concerning
His Word to him and for him. Asking the Lord for something
in every line, every verse of this stanza. You know, prayer is giving thanks. Prayer is praising the Lord. Our Lord, they asked him, teach
us to pray. And he said, after this manner,
pray. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. Then what? Start asking. Give us. Lead us. Forgive us. And so on and so forth. We often
feel guilty that all we do is ask the Lord, don't we? All we
do is ask Him. Don't feel guilty. He did say,
so it is, our Father. What are parents for? Not really. What are parents for? But for
their children to come to them and ask them for things. Parents
don't need much from their children. Children need everything from
their parents. Right? So he says, ask. Ask. Keep asking. And don't feel guilty
about it. So our Father, give us, give
us, give us. Eight things He asked for and
that I found that I need greatly because I'm so poor and so needy
and so weak. I'm a little child. I'm a slow
learner. The first thing He says is, teach
me, O Lord. Teach me. The way of thy statutes,
and I'll keep them under the hand. Teach me. Does anybody
in here feel like you've learned anything? I'd like to ask some
of these older saints that have been around a while. Do you really
feel like you've learned anything? Sometimes I feel like I need
to go back and learn all over again like a little child. Teach
me. Teach me. Go back quickly to Psalm 25.
I thought of this psalm in which he He keeps asking the Lord to
teach him five times in Psalm 25. And throughout the Psalms,
he said, verse 4, you have it in Psalm 25, show me thy ways,
O Lord, teach me thy path. Verse 5, lead me in thy truth
and teach me. 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, and the meek will he teach his
way. Verse 12, what man is he that
feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way. Will the Lord teach me? Please
teach me. I preach in part. We know in
part. Teach us. And he said there,
he promised, they shall all be taught of the Lord. Teach me
thy way. Go back. The way of thy statute. The way to God. You know, most
people don't know the way to God. Oh, my. Most people don't know the way
of righteousness, the way to be accepted, the way to be saved. They don't know. Do you know?
I believe that's about all I know. The way, kind of like that old
coach driver, I think it was Henry Law, one of the old preachers,
was riding a coach to Bath, England. And he asked the coachman about
this place on the way, and he said, what is this place over
here? And the fellow said, I don't know. And he kept riding, and
he said, Coachman, what's this place over here? And he said,
I don't know. And then he went on a little
further, and he said, but what about this? And he said, I don't know.
And he said, well, what do you know? And the coachman said,
I know the way to Bath. I do know the way. to God. It's Jesus Christ, don't you?
Well, I need to learn that more fully. I get, you know, legalistic. I get this and that and the other. But Christ is the way, the truth,
and the life. His statutes, that means appointments.
Oh, my. His appointments are wise. His
appointments are good. Everything He's appointed for
us is good. Teach me, O Lord, the way, and
I shall keep, if I'm really taught, I will lay hold of Christ, and
I'll die in the faith until the end. So teach me. Teach me. Verse
34, give me. Give me understanding, and I
shall keep thy love. Give me understanding. Grace means a gift, doesn't it? Give me. Everything I need, God's
got to give it to me. Give me grace. Give me mercy.
But understanding here is what he asked for. Give me an understanding. You know, I know some things
in my head. We know some things in our head.
We read and we accumulate some knowledge and we memorize some
scripture and so forth, but we need understanding of it. We
need to understand with our hearts the truth of it. the goodness
of it, the rightness of it, the singularity of it. We need to
understand. It's one thing to learn something
about a book and to memorize it as a fact, but to understand
it is to really learn the lesson in it. And that often takes trials
and experience. We really don't learn anything
until we experience it. Give me an understanding. Here's
a good verse that goes with this. We know that the Son of God has
come. We know that Christ came. Came in the flesh. But He hath
given us an understanding that we might know Him. That is true. That we might really commune
with Him and come to know Him and that we're in Him. But most
people believe that Jesus came. Alright? But we know why He came. We know why He came. He's given
us that understanding. And that we're in Him that is
true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God. This is
life eternal. So give me an understanding,
He said. Give it to me, Lord. Please. He delights to give.
He delights to give. And He says, if you give me an
understanding, a real understanding, I'll lay hold of your Word, your
Law, and I'll observe it with my whole heart, He said. With
the heart, man believes. So give me a real, deep, abiding,
understanding experience of your Word through trial. Here's a
good one. This will go along well with
that. We don't really understand anything
until the Lord causes us to experience it. Okay? John Newton wrote this. He said, I ask the Lord that
I might grow in faith and love and every grace and might more
of His salvation know and seek more earnestly his face, and
I hoped that in some favored hour he would 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. Even more, with his own hand
he seemed to aggravate my woe. He crossed all my designs, I
schemed, and blasted my cords and laid me low. I said, Lord,
why is this? I trembled and cried. Wilt thou
pursue this worm to death? It is in this way, the Lord replied,
I answered your prayer for grace and faith. These inward trials
I employ from self and pride to set you free. and break your
schemes of earthly joy that you might seek your all. Amen. So I asked the Lord that He would
give me grace to grow and would hope He would just with a word
and power just make me grow instantly. But He said, no, I'm going to
make you feel the sin of your heart, the pollution of your
person and aggravate your woe. And through experience, I'm going
to make you understand what you are. Understand the truth of
God's Word by experience. And understand why Jesus Christ
came. To save sinners. And understand
something of His mercy. And understand something of His
love. And understand something of His grace that is only understood
in light of our sins. Only. This gospel is only really
believed and understood and loved with our heart by experiencing
this awful thing called sin. Give me an understanding. And
it's a hard lesson. A hard lesson. We can know it
in our heads. I knew as a child, yeah, we're
all centered. Now I know it from experience.
I understand it. I understand it. And then you
lay hold of His Word and you observe it, you listen with your
whole heart. Verse 35, make me to go in the
paths of thy commandment. The path of thy commandment.
Make me. Now, this world can boast that
everybody talks about free will. The child of God knows that we
don't have a free will, and unless the Lord makes us willing in
the day of His power, we're not going to come, we're not going
to call, we're not going to believe unless the Lord makes us. Unless
the Lord makes us. So David cries, and I cry, Make
me. Make me. Cause me to walk in
Thy path. Well, he said, the Lord is our
shepherd, and we shall not want so he maketh us to lie down in
green pasture. Oh my, make me. You know, children
wouldn't do anything if the parents didn't make them do it. They'd
just die. They wouldn't eat. They wouldn't
eat the right things anyway unless the parents made them. They wouldn't
wash. They wouldn't have any friends.
wouldn't brush their teeth, wouldn't do anything unless parents made
them. Make me. Lord, make me. Make me to go
in the path of thy commandments. If you don't make me walk in
thy path, I won't walk there. I'll go the other way. And he
said this from his heart, therein do I delight. The path, the way,
the way. I do delight. I really do. So
make me, Lord, walk in thy path. Make me do what you tell me to
do. Make me live by faith. Make me love as I should love.
Make me forgive as I should forgive. Make me merciful. Make me! The
Lord likes that. The world says, give me, give
me, give me, give me this, give me that, give me material goods,
give me all that my flesh lusts for, but no, God's people. There's
not one single request for one earthly thing in there. Teach me, give me an understanding.
Make me to go in the path of thy commandment. Make me. Verse 36, incline my heart unto
thy testimonies and not to covetousness. Incline me. Teach me. Give me. Make me. Incline me. Our flesh is the natural inclination
of our flesh is toward stuff. That's what we're naturally inclined
toward. I am inclined toward covetousness.
I am inclined toward materialism. I am inclined to be selfish.
I am inclined to seek my way and my will. Aren't we? All of
it. Oh, Lord, incline my heart unto
Thy testimony, as You said, Thy Word, Thy Gospel. The testimony
of God is the Gospel of Christ. And not to covetousness. Inclined means to lean toward,
doesn't it? Lean toward. He's inclined to
this. He's inclined to do that. It means to have a tendency to
do something. And our flesh, whatever it sees,
it's inclined to believe. Whatever it hears, it's inclined
to believe. Whatever it feels, it's inclined
to think, well, this is good. It feels good. There's something
about my heart. Incline my heart, let me understand
with the heart, not just my eyes. Incline my heart unto thy testimony,
not covetousness. Oh, my. Take out of my heart
a love for this, the things of this world, covetousness, which
is idolatry, he said. Make my heart lean toward thee. Let it be my heartfelt tendency,
with the mind, with the heart, Paul said, I serve the law of
God with the flesh. Oh, my inclination. Sinful inclination. Incline my heart. Then he says,
verse 37, turn away my eyes from beholding vanity. Turn them. Turn my eyes. Turn away my eyes. David must have had a problem
with the lust of the eyes or he wouldn't have prayed for this.
And I'm glad he did, because I do too. Lust of the eyes, lust
of the flesh, pride of life plagues every believer, doesn't it? You know, it all started with
the woman looking on something. Scripture says, Eve saw that
the tree was good for food. Boy, that looks good. It's not. It's because something looks
good doesn't mean it is. She saw that it was pleasant to the
eyes. Oh, Lord, turn away my eyes from
beholding vanity. What's vanity? What does the
Scripture say is vanity? All flesh. Name something. Name something. Anything in this
world, anything in this life is vanity. All flesh is vanity. Empty. Vanity means empty. It
won't satisfy. It means if you're looking for
something in that, you won't find it. It's empty. It promises what it can't fulfill.
It's not what it appears to be. That's what that means, vanity.
It's not what it appears to be. It's a soap bubble, as it were.
It will burst. You know, kids like to play with
soap bubbles, don't they? Well, you know, when you get
older, you quit playing with soap bubbles, don't you? They
say, how foolish can you be to chase a soap bubble? Yeah, aren't we though? Turn
away mine eyes from beholding vanity. Riches. Pleasures and sin. But make me
understand, it's seasonal. And the consequences far outweigh
the pleasure. Make me understand that it's
more enjoyable and greater riches and greater treasure to suffer
reproach with the people of God than all the riches and the pleasures
of nature. You can only come to know that
God revealing it to your understanding. Riches. Lord, turn away my eyes
from beholding riches because money, riches are deceitful. They don't make you rich. They
make you poor. Don't they? Every one of us in
here, when we get a pocket full of money, get a little savings
or whatever, what are we thinking about? Be honest. What are we
thinking about? How we can give it to the missionaries? Well, that does cross our mind,
but if you're honest with yourself, you'd be thinking about how you
can spend it on yourself. It doesn't make you rich toward
God, it makes you poor. When our Lord said, blessed are
the poor, he meant literally the poor. Blessed are they that
are poor, because if you don't have anything, but if you have
Christ, you really do have everything. Oh, there's he that hath many
things, yet is poor, and there's he that is poor and is very rich.
Oh, Lord, make us rich towards You, rich in faith, rich in love,
rich in mercy, rich in grace. Our Lord hath nothing that this
world has to offer, but He hath everything, the things of God. Make me like that. Let me see
true riches and pursue them, treasures in heaven. Oh, my,
make me understand that. I know it in my head, but give
me an understanding of that. Turn away my eye, quicken thou
me in the way. We'll see that again here in
a minute. Verse 38, Establish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thee. Establish
thy word. Let the truth, the wisdom of
God's Word and of everything in His Word be established in
my mind and heart. Established. When you're established,
it means you're grounded and you're settled. It means nobody
can change your mind. So when somebody really has their
mind set on something, you're not going to change that. Well,
Lord, let me establish Your Word in my mind and let nothing that
I hear in this world, let nothing that anyone says, the great deceiver,
the great adversary, all of these promises, all that he tries to
trick us with and beguile us with, and all his ministers,
and all the people of this world, and all the things of this world
that he uses, don't let me listen to that. Write your word on the
table of my heart. Give me an understanding in my
heart, and I won't listen to it. I'll be stabbed, and I won't
be moved. It won't move me. The praise
of the world won't puff me up. The criticism of the world won't
bring me down. The fears of the world won't
make me run. Peter said this, after you've
suffered a while, may the Lord establish, strengthen, and settle
you. And that's really the only way we're going to be established,
strengthened, and settled and not move away. When you see by
experience, when you understand by experience, and are grounded
and settled in the Word, after He proves it to you, after years
of experience, you say, God is true. Everything He says is true. He's true to His Word, upon which
He's caused me to hope, and I'm just going to stay right there.
I'm not going anywhere. By His grace. By His grace. And He says in verse 38, your
servant is devoted to thy fear. You may hesitate to say that. You're probably like me, you're
ashamed of how you act like you don't fear the Lord and you act
like you fear man, fear this and that and the other. But the
fact of the matter is, you wouldn't keep coming here and you wouldn't
be convicted by His Word, you wouldn't mourn over your sin,
you wouldn't cry unto the Lord if the Lord has not devoted you
to His Spirit. A disciple, a student, means
a devotee. That's what the Eastern students
are called, devotees. They're devoted to what their
master has said. Well, I do fear the Lord, don't
you? You do, don't you? Yes, you do.
I know you're ashamed of me. Well, aren't you devoted to fear
Him more. Don't you want to fear Him more?
Isn't that why you're here? Fear the Lord. It's good. It's clean.
By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. Fear the Lord
is good. Unite our hearts to fear Thy
Name. So we keep coming. Lord, I'm devoted to it. I'm
a student of Yours. I'm coming back. Why? To learn
more about the fear of the Lord. Teach me the fear of the Lord.
Right? Teach me the fear of the Lord.
And I tell you, the more I see, like David said in Psalm 36,
The transgression of the wicked tells me within my heart that
there's no fear of God before their eyes. And that makes me
want to fear the Lord more. Doesn't it? When you see and
hear all that's going on today in the world, all the people
and what it's doing to our nation, doesn't it make you fear the
Lord even more? Don't you see Him coming? I'll make us fear
for those we love more so. Oh, I'm devoted to your fear.
So establish me in your Word. Verse 39. Turn away my reproach
which I fear." Oh, man. What David is saying here is,
turn me or keep me from being a reproach. And the reproach
I have already brought on you, Lord, let it not bring any more
reproach on me. Would you please cover it under
the blood of Christ? Oh my, it's ever before me. May
the blood cover that. And Lord, may it not cause the
trouble I've caused, the reproach I've brought on You, upon myself,
my family, everybody. Let not that bring any more reproach
on You. And let me not be a reproach
from here on out. Is that your prayer? Turn me. I'm inclined to go this way.
Turn me, Lord, and I'll be turned. Don't let me. I'll bring approach
on you if you don't turn. I don't have Abner anymore, but
I've got Charlie. And he's old now. Charlie's about
11 years old, isn't he? That's 77. Surely, he knows by
now not to hit out in the street. Surely, he knows not to run off
after chasing rabbits. Surely, by now, he knows. Every day I have to turn Him. Every single day. I've got to
keep my eyes on Him. As soon as I let Him out the
door, I've got to keep my eyes on Him. Well, I know better than
that dumb old dog. Are you? The Lord's got to keep
His eye on us every minute of the day. As soon as He turns
us out the door into this world, if He doesn't turn us, And the reason being, if you
love something, you want to keep it from harm's way, don't you? Turn us, O Lord, and we'll return.
Keep us from bringing a reproach on you. Keep me from being like
Lot as one that mocketh. We looked at that Sunday. One
of the ladies, a couple, said they were greatly convicted by
that. Well, I am too. I was too. Because
we all seem as one that mocks. We all are just like Lot. We're
just like Abraham. We're just like all of them.
Jacob. We're just like David. We've brought reproach on our
Lord. And so David says, Lord, don't let me bring any more reproach.
Would you please turn me? If you don't turn me, I won't
be turned. I can't turn. Turn me. Turn away my reproach
which I fear. I know your judgments are good.
Your judgments are good. Oh, Psalm 51. David said, Lord,
you're going to be justified when you speak and
you're going to be clear when you judge me. Whatever you bring
upon me because of what I've done, you're going to be clear
in what you do. Oh, have mercy on me. Oh, according to your loving
kindness, purge me. Make me to hear joy. Hide your
face from my sin. Create in me a clean heart. Renew
a right spirit. Cast not away from me your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from
me. Restore unto me the joy of your salvation. Then I'll teach
somebody something. If you'll just teach me something,
I might be able to teach somebody by example. But turn me. Turn
me. These are requests that we desperately
need, and these are requests that the Lord is sure to hear.
Heard me? And the last thing he says in
verse 40 is, Behold, I have longed after thy precepts. Quicken me. Quicken me. Raise me from the
dead. Raise me from the dead. How often
do you feel dead? I know you do. You tell me that all the time.
I was so dead. I feel so dead. Why? Because the things of this world
are dead things and dying things, and these things are what deadens
us. These things are what deadens
us. And so he says, Quicken me, make me alive in thy righteousness. What's that? His Word of righteousness. His Son of righteousness. He
that hath the Son hath life. He that hath the knowledge of
the Son. He that hath an understanding of the Son. He that follows the
Son. He that is devoted to the Son.
He that hears the Son. He that is established, grounded
in the Son. Oh Lord, quicken me. Quicken
me. Quicken me. Make me alive. You
know, this psalm is about the Word
of God and about prayer. This is the life of a believer,
really. It's like food and breath. We
live by His Word. Spiritually speaking. Without
His Word, we're dead. We live on His Word. And breath
is prayer. Those two things we need to live.
We need food and we need breath. Well, the same thing spiritually.
Prayer and His Word. Prayer and His Word. This is
life. It's the life of faith. Calling
on God. Seeking the Lord. Communing with
the Lord. And Him with us through His Word. God only speaks one
way. God only teaches one way. God
only comforts one way. God only instructs one way. God
only leads one way. God only restrains one way. How's
that? That's why David makes so much
of it. Then why do we make so little of it? And so this is
a song that we need in it. Teach me. Give me. Make me. Incline me. Turn me. Establish me. Quicken me. Make my eyes open to Your Word,
to Your glory. Open my ears. We just sung that
song. That's why we sang that song.
Open my ears that I may hear voices of truth Thou sendest
clear. My heart, Lord, Salvation is a heart issue. Oh, how the
things of this world deaden us. Quicken me. Quicken me. Quicken
me. Make me alive. Make me alive. Through Thy righteousness,
through Christ, O Lord, here is my hope of glory. Christ in
me. Christ in me. Love for Christ. Faith in Christ. The Spirit of
Christ. The Word of Christ living in
me. Not in my head. but in my heart. Not with just knowledge only,
but an experience. Life. He that hath the Son of
Righteousness hath life. Alright, stand with me. Our Lord, our prayers seem so
feeble compared to what we just read. Let the words of the psalmist
be our prayer, the prayer of every child of God here tonight,
Lord, do these things. Lord, do these things in us,
for us, in us, through us, through Your Word. Quicken thou us according
to Thy Word. O Lord, write these things on
our hearts, not just our heads. And make our feet go in paths
of righteousness, just like the Lord Jesus Christ, for Thy great
name's sake. It's in His name we're met here
tonight, and I ask these things and give thanks. Amen.