Modern language is so unlike
Scripture, and words like awful used to be commonplace, and a
Scriptural word, awful, we think is something bad. Awful means
full of all. Full of all. Pitiful. Means full of pity. Talks about the bowels of our
God. That's scripture. That means
it's the innermost being. That's a very scriptural hymn
by Isaac Watts, a great hymn writer. All right, go back to
the 119th Psalm with me. You may remember, well, you may
not remember, some of you. It was 1991 when we went through
this entire psalm, verse by verse. And we've touched on it here
and there. The last time we looked at these
verses, five years ago. And I was reading it recently.
blessed by it and thought you might be also. So on one nineteen
every every stanza is I think that's the word contains eight
verses. Notice that eight verses in each
stand stanza and each part begins with the first letter of the
Hebrew alphabet, the twenty two letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
And so there are twenty two parts to this, and the whole song is
concerning God's word. Every verse, with the exception
of one or two, mentions God's word in it and gives God's word
different names, like the law of God, the testimonies, the
commandments, the precepts, the statutes, and so forth. But it's
the same thing. It's all speaking of God's Word. We looked at that before together. But David now is a man after
God's own heart, a man of great faith, a man who walked with
his God. David is king he's the king of
Israel but he called himself poor and needy. He said I'm poor
and needy in one of his psalms. Yet the Lord thinketh on me.
David was a sinner. David needed pardon, peace, forgiveness. David was a man. David had fears,
doubts, troubles, trials, He needed comfort. He needed peace. He needed consolation. He needed
freedom from fear. He needed encouragement. He needed rebuking. Where did
he get all of this? From God's Word. And I've told
you before that if you have a special need and want to go to God's
Word to find something to meet that need, And this is the only
place you're going to find it in God's Word. You can go to
Psalm 119. Just keep reading, and you'll
find something to meet that need. Some of you have proved me on
that point, haven't you? Or rather, proved God on that
point. David, in these eight verses,
makes a request in each verse. I have entitled this message,
The Believer's Invocation. An invocation means to call upon
someone for help. Call upon God for help. David
calls upon his God in these eight verses for help. He invokes God
to teach him, give him, make him, incline him, turn him, establish
him, quicken him. All of these things we need.
I need. and I know you need. All right,
let's look at verse thirty-three. He says, Teach me, O Lord, the
way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Teach me the way, the way. That's to say the ways, although
there are other places he does say that, but he says the way. Her with the song twenty five
on twenty five teach me the way of the actions or the word. What is the way of God's work. In other words what is the chief
or the principal subject of God's work. What is God teaching us
from his work. What is God's way. Christ said, I am the way. God wrote this book to point
us to Christ, who is the way to God, the way to know God,
the way to pray to God, the way to be accepted by God, the way
to worship God, the way. Christ is the way. This book
is all about Christ, teaching his people who Christ is. Line upon line, precept upon
precept. Look at Psalm 25, verse 4. Show me thy ways. God's ways
throughout the scripture all point to one way. Teach me thy
paths. We're going to see in a minute
that those paths all lead to one path. The old saying is all
roads lead to Rome. Back years ago, they did. There
weren't many roads around back then. All roads eventually led
to Rome. That was the center of civilization
at that time. Well, all Scripture leads to
cry. All paths end up pointing to
cry. Look at verse 5. Read 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, that is the humble, the broken, the contrite, 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. The way. Teach me thy way, the
way of thy statutes. Our Lord in John chapter 6, he
said they shall all be taught of God. They'll all be taught
of God. And he went on to say, and every
man that hath heard and learned of the Father, that is, all God's
children are taught of God their Father, and every man or woman
or young person that hath heard and learned of the Father does
what? Cometh unto me, Christ said. That's what God teaches
us. Go to Christ. Go to Christ. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. And our Lord is the one who wrote
that. He said the prophets, Isaiah
54, 13, is where that came from, which says, All thy children
shall be taught of thee, and great shall be the peace of thy
children. Why? If we see Christ as our teacher.
Teach me, and be well. The whole world over, our Lord
said to some Pharisees one time, He said, You search the Scriptures,
and then you think you have life? And it's no different today.
There are vast numbers of people who read the scriptures diligently
and think that they have life, or that is, showing them how
to live and so forth. But Christ said, day or day,
let's testify. Teach me how. And God does. He teaches all his people the
way. which is Christ, which is Christ. I am the what? And he says, if
you teach me, I'll keep it. That is, I'll lay hold. The word
keep, you remember, we looked at Psalm 15, was it not? 1 John 2, where it says, he that
keepeth his commandments. That means to lay hold of and
not want to lose. It doesn't mean obey, though
we attempt to, we can't perfectly. But when God's people lay hold
of Christ, they don't want to let go. They hold fast. He says, the beginning of their
confidence, steadfast at the end. Once you see Christ, you'll
lay hold of Him by faith, and you'll keep holding to the end. Verse 34, Now, unless the Lord
teaches us, we won't be taught. Right? Unless the Lord teaches
us that, he's the great teacher. The Holy Spirit teaches. Unless he teaches us, shows us
the things of Christ, we won't be taught. Verse 34, give me. Again, he's invoking the Lord. Give me understanding, and I
will keep. Give me understanding. Now, this
goes deeper than just doctrine. When I was a young man, just,
well, not even a man, when I was a boy, I knew in my head the
doctrines of grace. I could enunciate all of them,
total depravity, unconditional election, so forth. I could argue
with I believed them vehemently. I mean, argued them. But I didn't understand. I didn't
understand who I was or who God is, really. I didn't understand
who Christ is and my need of Him. I didn't understand. I did
not understand, only if God gives us something deeper than doctrine,
an understanding. That's what Paul said, that he
might give us an understanding to know him that is true. Doctrine, he says, is the head.
You can teach somebody facts, and they can memorize them. But only if the Lord gives us
an understanding. That's in the heart. And that
will produce the wall. That's the light. Understanding
with the heart. That's what he says in verse
34. Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Read this backwards
with me. With my whole heart, I will observe
thy law and keep thy law if you give me understanding. If you give me understanding. Oh my. Only if the Lord really
makes us to understand. We say that to our children all
the time. Son, honey, do you understand me? Uh-huh. They heard you, they're just
waiting for you to get finished. So they go on their way and they're
going to repeat. You understand when it goes down
deep. And that's what David said. Write
it on the tables of my Give me understanding, understanding. And I'll keep thy law. The word
keep, again, means to guard, protect it. It means to, the
word observe also means that. It means to look very narrowly
at it and not want to lose any part of it. That's what that
word means. David, throughout this psalm,
is very zealous for God's Word. He says things like this, if
I can find it. He says, he says, it's time for you to
work, O Lord. They've made void your law. Lord,
would you do something? They're completely doing, making
void your law. It's on and on he goes, things
like that. He says, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all
things to be right, and I hate every false way. David hated
what people in his day were doing with God's Word. How much more
are they abusing the name? But that's what this means. If
you give me an understanding of it, where I really appreciate
it, understand it's your Word, it's your holiness, it's your
wisdom, it's your power, it's your love. If you give me that
understanding, I'll lay hold of it and I won't want anybody
to take it from me. I won't want anybody to injure
it. Give me. Lord, give me. Give
that to me. Give is grace, isn't it? It's
a gift. Everything's a gift. Verse 35. Make me to go in the
path of thy commandments. For therein do I delight. Make me. Lord, teach me. I'm a dummy.
David in another psalm says, I was as one of the beasts. I
was so foolish. And we get like that, don't we?
Lord, teach me. Please, teach me something. Lord,
give me. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Give me, give me, give me, give me, give me. As long as
we pray that humbly and meekly, He'll keep giving. He'll give
us more grace. Give me, give me, give me. That's all we are,
isn't it? Back to give me, give me, give me. We are what we are by His grace.
Give me. Make me. Would you Lord, would you make
me? To go in the path of thy word, thy command, make me. People
the world over protest against God's sovereign will and God's
sovereign power. When you mention that God Almighty
maketh us to will and to do of his pleasure and God Almighty
author and finisher of our faith that is God Almighty that. Constrains
us it's God Almighty that. Exerts his power. People hate
that. That's my salvation. The Lord made me come to Christ. Or I wouldn't have come. I wouldn't
have come. We sang that. I can find it again. We're just saying that Brother
Watts knew this. He said the love that spread
the feast sweetly forced us in. Forced us in. Will God make a
person do something against their will? He better. Newton, I believe, go to Genesis
19 with me, Genesis chapter 19. I think it was Newton that wrote
the poem, it was grace that stopped my wild career. Was that John
Newton? Oh, there's several in here that
can attest to that, that God Almighty stopped our wild career. made us, forced us like that
wild ass is cold to be ridden. People protest against that,
but I love it. I know if he doesn't constrain
me. Constrain means to make you do
something. Restrain means to prevent you
from doing something. If he does not constrain us,
constrain us, To do his will to him, we won't. If he does
not make us believe, we won't. If he does not make us submit,
we won't. We won't. If left to ourselves,
we won't make it. But God makes sure that we do. He makes it. Look here. Will God force someone against
their will? Look at the story of Lot here,
Genesis 19, verse 15. The Lord warned Lot and his family
in verse 15, when the morning arose, then the angels hastened
at Lot. It means hurry up, saying, Arise,
take thy wife and thy two daughters, which are here, lest thou be
consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered,
he was tarrying, he was dilly-dallying around, wasn't he? He was hesitant. He wasn't sure he was ready to
go. Any lots in here? Well, while he lingered, it says,
the men laid hold upon his hand. That means they grabbed hold
of him. Now, how do you reckon they got
him to go? It just pretty much sounds like
they drug him out of there. They laid hold upon his hand
and upon the hand of his wife, upon the hand of his two daughters,
if the Lord does not make me submit, make me willing in the
day of his power, I won't. I'll linger and I'll fall if
God does not make my wife, if God does not make my daughter
Right? But if the Lord did, why? Because
the Lord being merciful unto him, and they brought him forth,
carried him bodily, and set him without sin. That's salvation,
I think. That's my salvation. Lord, make
me. Make me. Make me set my feet
upon a rock set my feet in the path of documents go back to
the check make me. He said in Psalm twenty three.
He make us us to lie down. The Lord has to make us lie down
make us read. All right verse thirty six another
request incline my heart. unto thy testimony, thy word,
and not to come. Now, everyone in here will admit
that your natural inclination is things. If given a natural choice, if
left to yourself to the things of this world, to choose between
the things of this world and the things of God, which will
you choose? Let me ask you to make it a little easier on you.
Which is easier for you to do? Pick up and read some ridiculous
book or magazine or the holy, inspired, blessed, pure, spotless
Word of the Living God? Unless you're a self-righteous
Pharisee, you'll admit that it's easier and you're more inclined
to pick up that secular thing, right? Anybody else need inclining
beside me? That is, Lord, make it the bent
of my will. Incline means just that, bow
to, incline to, lean toward. Lord, let it be my leanings. Let me lean toward the things
of God rather than covetousness, which is idolatry, Scripture
I want to be inclined to love Christ more than anything and
anyone, don't you? God's people do. But this is
ever their cry. Incline me. Verse 37, turn away
mine eyes from beholding vanity. This goes along with that, doesn't
it? Turn away my eyes. Lord, if you just keep me from
looking at the things of this world. And that's what again,
I referred to David in Psalm 73. He says, I was envious at
the prosperity of the wicked. In other words, David was looking
around me. Wow. I was watching a TV show the
other night, it was called like Super Homes or something, showing
all these multi-million dollar homes and Building a house right
now just kind of interested in you know what people build and
various things and. And one fellow was complaining
that it took him 30 minutes every night to turn all the lights
off. Things of this world how much
do we need and if we start looking at these things. We start admiring
them, we start wanting them. Three things that John talks
about. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life. These three things. Lord, turn,
turn me from that. Turn me. If you don't turn me,
I won't be turned. I'll turn to these things if
you don't turn me. Turn away mine eye from beholding these
things. Turn me from these things. Read
on. And quicken me. And it calls
it vanity, doesn't it? Where did Solomon... Well, go
with me to Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs 1. I haven't been very
long, and this is not going to take long. Proverbs chapter 1. Where did
Solomon get his wisdom? Well, from God, who is wisdom. Christ is made unto us wisdom. and Solomon had a very wise man. Very wise man. You could attribute. Yes, you could attribute some
of his wisdom by God's grace and power to his father the way
he brought him up. Didn't the Lord say that? Train
up a child the way he should go? David, did David teach his
boy wisdom? Oh there are many examples if
you read Solomon you'll see David in it. You'll see David. You know the story where they
first found out such wisdom that Solomon had when the two ladies
had two babies and they both slept in the same bed. One of
the ladies mothered her child in the middle of the night. And they came to Solomon and
she swapped He swapped the last child for her own. And the other
woman knew that wasn't her job. And so they came to Solomon to
make the judgment remember. And Solomon said without hesitation
this man he said bring your sword. He brought him a sword he took
the live child he said let's just divide it in half and give
one half to the one. And the woman whose child it
was. Whose bowels yearned for that baby who truly loved that.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no He wouldn't have done that to the
child, you know. He knew what would happen. Where did he get
that? Do you remember when Mephibosheth and Ziba came before David and
they both had different stories? Ziba was lying on Mephibosheth,
said, Mephibosheth is a rebel against you. And David was going to give all
that pertained to Mephibosheth, all his worldly goods, he was
going to give it to Ziba. And when they both stood before
David, Ziba said, that'd be a good thing, I'll take everything he
has, because he's a crook. And Mephibosheth says, let him
have it all. I'm just glad you're here. I
want you. You reckon David knew who the
true one was? That's where Solomon got his
wisdom. David wrote in our psalm, he said, turn away my eyes from
beholding vanity. What is vanity? Well, Solomon
went on to talk a great deal about it. In the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
I mean, Solomon said he tried it all. And Lord, not only made
him wiser than any man, but made him richer. Gave him everything
his heart could desire. He said he tried it all. He tried
fun and games. He tried to work and work. Became
a workaholic. He became a playaholic. He became
a musicaholic. You just name it, he tried. And
he said, it's a hard man. Verse one and two of Proverbs
says that Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, you see. And
this is really Christ's word and king of Israel to know wisdom
and instruction to perceive words of understanding, to receive
the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and equity. He said
it's subtle to the simple young man, knowledge and discretion.
And why is mental here on increased knowledge? And he went on to
say it's all vanity, vanity of vanity. David said, give me understanding. What's true understanding? To
be able to look at this world in all its finery, no matter
what it is, and say that's vanity. to be able to look at anyone
or anything and say it's vanity. Vanity means it won't last, it
won't give you any lasting fulfillment. It won't give you any lasting
profit. That's what vanity means. Vanity doesn't mean it's totally
empty or useless. Relationships are valuable, yeah.
But they won't give you, they promise things that they can't
fulfill. Riches are called deceitful.
They promise us peace and rest and happiness, but mostly causes
worry. So he says vanity, vanity. It's
all vanity. It's all vanity. Give me understanding
to know that all is vanity. Turn away my eyes from beholding. Let me not gaze upon it and look
upon it and have a quick and. In my way that my heart. And
I'll just be honest with. Things thank God things don't
affect me the way they used to but some things still do. You
know it's my my. I've been a car above all my
life. And you know, good looking car
that is a really fine car, one made in 1970 back. Well, catch my eye. Yeah, I came in and gave a story
the other day. I had a 67 SS 396, black. Margaret,
I'll talk to you. You can relate. Straight as an
arrow. Oh, I stood out there and walked
around. And I came back in there. Who
owns this car? And I thought, it's just a car. Just a car. Why would I be impressed
with that? Uncle Meadow. Well, here's the point. Quicken thou me in thy way. Make
my heart to race thy way. And I believe it does. It does for God's people. You
can truly say there's nothing better than this. to you verse
thirty eight established by word under that server. They have
Peter prayed that the Lord would strike them settle and. Stand
the Lord if you don't establish make you don't plant my feet
firm if you don't put your word right it on the tables of my
heart. I'm prone to wander, I'm ready to haul, I'm ready to lead. Lord, establish me, strengthen
me, settle me. Establish thy word unto me and
your word in me. Who is devoted to thy fear? He's
a God-fearing man, and so is everyone who knows the Lord. Will the Lord establish those
that fear him? You go through the Psalms and
you see how many times God's promises relate to those that
fear him. He's merciful to them that fear
him. Verse 39, turn away my reproach
which I fear. That is, Lord, keep me from being
a reproach. Now, what God's people God's people
who fear God, God's people who love God's glory, God's honor,
God's word, God's people who truly have God's glory and honor
in their mind and in their heart, what they fear the most is bringing
reproach upon them. Nathan told David after his terrible
fall, he said, You've given the enemies of the Lord great cause
to blaspheme. It's not so much losing our reputation
as God losing some of His honor. Huh? That's what God's people
truly say. Lord, don't let me bring reproach
upon you. Which I fear. I fear that. I
really do. Thy judgments are good. How are we going to be kept from
reproach, being reproached? The word judgment here is chastening.
Over in this psalm, he says, Before I was afflicted, I went
astray. He says, It's good for me that
I've been afflicted, that I might learn. Our children. Solomon wrote about a foolish
child. He says he is reproached to his
mother. How are you going to take care
of that problem? The rock. The rock. As that quote said, the best
way to handle a minor problem is before he grows up. And the Lord chastens those he
loves. Why? To keep us from bringing
a reproach upon him. He said he did this for his name's
sake anyway. Turn away my reproach, which
I fear. Thy judgments are good. Whatever
you do is right. Behold, verse 40, I have longed
after thy precepts. I have longed. Behold, the word
behold means stop and think about it.
Stop and consider. I have longed after thy precepts. It's almost like David stops
and says, you know, I really do desire his presence. I really do desire his love.
This really is my heart's desire. David said, Desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow thereby. I do. Do you? But Lord, make me. Make me. Behold, I have longed
after thy presence. This must be of the Lord. Was
it Newton that wrote that hymn? He said, "'Tis a point I long
to know, oft it gives me anxious thought. Do I love the Lord,
or no? Am I his, or am I not?" And then
he went on in that song, he said, in that song, to say, I can't quote it exactly, but
he said that it's something to this effect, that if I didn't
have these thoughts, I wouldn't be here. And because I do, I
am. Behold, I have longed after that
person. I do long for his Word. I do
desire the sincere milk of God's Word. I do esteem Christ. I do delight in your commandment.
I do want to be to walk in thy way and not my way, not the way
of the world. Psalm 1 says, Blessed is that
man, blessed, let me read this to you, that walketh not in the
counsel of the ungodly. Behold, I used to run with some rough
fellow. Behold, not anymore. When you think about it, blessed
is the man who doesn't stand in the way of sinners. I was I think his brother Kelly
and I were talking about, you see two boys walking down the
street, you're kind of suspicious. You see three, something's up. You see four, you better call
the police. And I was one of them. But behold, I'm a companion of those that
fear me. And those that fear thee will be glad when they see
me. Behold. Think about that. That's amazing.
Blessed is the man that doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful.
I used to scorn this religion. I used to scorn my father's religion.
I was too smart. After all, I'd reached the ripe
old age of twenty, and I knew everything. Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Behold. Behold, I have long left
thy bridge, quicken me, quicken me in thy righteousness." Now
why did he say that? Let's close with that. Quicken
me means to be made alive. Quicken me. Make me alive. Quicken my eyes, my ears, my
heart. He started out by saying, teach
me the word. Who's that? Christ. OK. Give me understanding of what. Right. Make me find my heart with the
heart man believe it on to write me the law. Establish that word that I serve. What's the word. He says quicken me and I. Christ is our righteousness and
only if God Almighty makes him real. Makes him real to us through
this word. Will this be real? That's the
only way I can say it. As I said, I was a young man
and knew the doctrine but did no crime. I knew I could even
quote some of the word, but didn't know the word in the work. I get really excited about doctrine,
but when press went when I hear somebody talk in a very personal
way about Christ and his work and so forth. Yeah, let's talk
about a lesson. You understand? Quicken thou
me. Our religion is a person. If he calls us to be alive in
Christ, and Christ to live for us from the pages of this book,
then we'll believe with the heart. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, David's psalm is our
prayer. We ask that you would do all
these things for us. We call upon you to help You
said you're a very present help in time of need. Lord, we're
poor and needy. We need you to do all these things
for us. Teach us, quicken us, keep us from vanity, from beholding
vanity, all of these things. Edge us about, incline us, all
of these things, Lord. We pray that you would, by your
mercy and grace that's in Christ our Lord, hear our prayer and
do all these things for us. Let not the boughs of the air
The world is full of them. Take these things away, nor the
thorns choke out Your Word. Lord, plant it in our hearts. We hope You did receive and direct
this Word which is able to save us. This is our prayer. For Christ's
sake, we've met here tonight. Amen. This is a test. This is a test.
This is a test. Okay. Okay. and and and I don't know. I don't know.