lead me thy way. Until the race is won, until
the day is done, until the day is done, lead me thy way. All right, back to Psalm 119. Over and over, the Lord tells
us and teaches us to pray. He said, me and all, always to
pray. Always. Paul learned that and
told us we need to pray without ceasing. Pray. The disciples one time
said, Lord, teach us to pray. Not only what to pray, but teach
us that we need to pray. Pray, prayer is simply calling
on your heavenly Father. And we need to pray always, because
we're so poor and needy. So poor and needy, so we call
upon Him. Because we're so prone to sin,
so prone to sin, we need to pray always. Because He said, without
me you can do nothing. So we need to pray always. Here in Psalm 119, this is a
prayer. This is a prayer of David, a
short prayer of David, a man after God's own heart. And I find David every time to
be a man after my heart. And I can say this without reservation. that at any time, under any circumstances, because of any need, whatever
you're going through, that you can turn to Psalm 110 and find
something you need. And you remember that. So if
you don't need it now, you will. Looking for somewhere to turn,
find something from God's Word for comfort, for instruction,
for chastening, for correction, for leadership, for guidance.
Turn to Psalm 119. I guarantee you, if you browse
through, you'll find something that meets your needs at any
certain place, at any time. Psalm 119. Because The whole song is about God's
Word. The whole song. Look at Psalm
1. Turn back to Psalm 1, first of
all. Psalm 1. David, you see, finds all of
his comfort, all of his hope from God's Word. That's where we'll find out.
In Psalm 1, Look at the first three verses. Blessed is the
man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scorned. Basically,
that means blessed are those who do not listen to, walk like,
or walk with the Word. Thoughts, the ways of the Word.
But now, verse two. The blessed man's delighted in
the law of the Word. And in his law does he meditate
day and night. He'll be like a tree, a green
tree. In dry season, he'll be pretty. Now over to Psalm 119
now, and look at verse 1. Look how strikingly similar verse
1 is. in the way who walk in the law,
the word of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his
testimony, seek him with a whole heart. So, like I said, David's
delight was in God's word. That's where he found his delight.
David's hope and help he received from God's word. And he didn't
have as much of God's word as we have. He may have had Moses
was five books, and that's all. But he said, I've seen that better,
greater treasure than all the riches. Sweeter than honey and
so forth, greater than gold and silver. We have a much more vast
treasure than even David. David's wisdom and understanding.
David was wise, wasn't he? You know where Solomon got his
wisdom? I think I know where he got part of it, reading his
dad's songs. David had great wisdom and understanding.
Where'd he get it? God's Word. David had strength. David had faith. Where'd he get
it? God's Word. Now, David's king. Now, if a great king needs God's
Word, What about service? What about peons? Like us. All right, so there are eight
verses in this prayer, and David asked the Lord eight things. Teach me, give me, make me, incline
me, turn me, establish me, keep me, or restrain me, quicken me. I think you'll find you need
all of these things. I do. Teach me. Look at verse
33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of
thy statutes. O Lord, teach me. And only if
the Lord teaches us will we learn something. You know that? Only if the Lord teaches us something
will we learn something. Scripture says in Isaiah 54,
13, I love that. All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord. You know what the result of that is? Great will
be the peace of thy children. There won't be peace unless the
Lord does the teaching. I can teach our children many
things. And only the Lord can really
impress upon them. So he says, teach me, O Lord.
What's the number one thing he wants? He wants, what's his premier
desire? Thy way. Teach me, O Lord, the
way of thy statute, the way of thy word. What's the way? What's the way? Christ said,
I am the way. the Word of God incarnate. Christ is the what? The Gospel
of Christ is what David is praying was his first need. He said,
I need to know Christ. Teach me the Gospel. Teach me
Christ. Christ is the way of His Word.
You know, God wrote this Word to teach us Christ, to show us
Christ. He said they are they which testify
of me. Teach me the way of thy statutes. Show me Christ in every faith,
in every life. And I'll heap it unto the end,
he said. Teach me Christ and I'll believe
him. If you do the teaching, I'll believe him. I heard sermon after sermon after
sermon after sermon after sermon until finally God one day And I trust in Christ. Teach
me Christ, and I'll trust Him. If you teach me Christ, I'll
be like Him. Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy Word, and I'll
keep it. I'll lay hold on Christ. I'll... And unto the end. Unto the end. Verse 34. Give me. Give me understanding. Give me understanding. This understanding
goes deeper than the doctrine. Teach me. Instruct me. But now real instruction comes
from understanding. Right? Understanding involves
experience. You can be taught something in
your head, but not really understand it. Do you understand what I'm saying? You can know something in your
head. You can believe it. You can say, I believe that.
You can be persuaded of it. But not until you experience
something. Not, do you really? Now I understand. You see what I'm saying? Give me
understanding. Make this teaching go deeper. Deeper than doctrine. With the
heart. Verse 34. Give me understanding
and I shall lay hold on thy word. Yea, I'll observe it with my
whole heart. With the heart man believeth. Oh, with the head he knoweth,
but with the heart he believeth. Unto righteousness. Out of the
heart. Heart are the issues of life.
With the heart Lord, you give me a heart and understanding,
and I'll keep thy word only then. Okay, I'll observe it if you
give me a heart to do so, with my whole heart. Understanding
involves experience. And like I was saying, we can
be taught something in our heads. We can teach our children. We
teach our children, as we should. Catechize, teach them. But only
till they go through experience will they understand that what
dad and mom say is so. And it's the same with us. God can show us in His Word,
but only when we go through an experience where we actually
experience His Word. Then we understand. Alright? Verse 35. Make me. Teach me, give me, make me to
go in the path of thy commandments. Make me. The world doesn't like to hear
a sovereign God who does according to his will with whom he will.
Boy, I do. We pray with David, Brother
Henry, we pray, make me, force me, Bend my knee. Break my heart. Right? Make me. Make me. I know if He doesn't make me
believe, I won't believe. Right? If He doesn't make me
repent, I won't repent. If He doesn't make me submit,
I won't submit. Make me. Go ahead. Make me. Cry on the cross for
me. Make me. Once you like that,
he maketh us to lie down and bring fast. If left to myself,
if left to yourself, you won't make it. But if he makes you, you'll make
it. Christ is going to make sure
that you make it. How? By making it. Huh? David says that all the way through.
I wish I could have verses right on the tip of my tongue. Oh, I can't think of it. I must
not leave it here. Well, if the Lord makes us, that's
the only way we're going to do these things. You know? Make
me. Make me go in the path. Make
me walk in the path of Dr. Manley. Make me. Listen to Isaac
Watts. A hymn he wrote, he said, why was I made to hear your voice
and enter into thy room when thousands make
the opposite choice, would rather starve than come? Well, it was
love that spread the peace that sweetly forced me in, forced
me in. else I would have refused to
taste and perish in my sin. Love forces the one it loves
to do things. Do you know it? Do you force
your children to come here to God? That's the best, that's the highest,
greatest show of love you can show. If I don't, you're coming. I'm going to make you. See, that's what David prayed,
make me. That's your prayer. Make me.
Make me. While the world doesn't like
that, that's the cry of every believer. Make me. Force me. Constrain me. Constrain me to
go in the path of thy command. For I do delight. I do delight. And you do, don't you? Huh? Can't you say that from the heart?
I do delight. I do love. his gospel and his
word, don't you? But sometimes he has to make
it, come to hear it. Certain has to make us submit.
All right, verse 36, incline me, incline my heart unto thy
testimony. My natural inclination is toward Sin. Evil. It's toward things. It's toward this world. Is that
not your natural inclination? Are you not naturally inclined
toward the things of this world? Well, David says, incline my
heart unto thy testimonies, not to covetousness. I need some spiritual inclination. I need gospel inclination. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies. Now, testimonies here is another
word for promises, another word for gospel. But David says, incline my heart
unto your promises and not to covetousness. Covetousness involves
the eyes, things you see, right? Covetousness involves the eyes. You look on something and you
covet it. Okay? And then you go after it. And
then you fall. Well, God's words are full of
promises of unseen things. So what he's saying here is,
incline my heart more toward your promises, the unseen, rather
than the seen. Make me to know that there's
more that your promises are reality,
that everything I see is a soap opera. Does that make sense? Enshrine my
heart unto thy testimony, thy promises, because the things
that are not seen are eternal. But the things that are seen
are temporal. And that goes for everything.
Everyone and everything. And that's the next verse. In
verse 37, turn away, turn me, turn my eyes from beholding vanity. Turn my eyes from beholding vanity. Now, turn with me to Ecclesiastes
chapter 1. Ecclesiastes is written by the
preacher who was Solomon. And like I said, this is where
Solomon got his wisdom. But he said, David said, turn
my eyes from beholding vanity. When you behold something. Now,
here's to look at something. That's a glance at it. But when
you behold something, that's to gaze on it. and really
look on and think about it. And then this is a stark desire.
So that's what he's saying. Turn my eyes from beholding,
you know, that is gazing on, longing after vanity. All right? What is vanity? Vanity, vanity means It has no lasting value or worth
or won't profit you. It doesn't profit you for any
length of time. Okay? That's what vanity means.
Something that is of no lasting value that will not profit you
very long at all. You remember Paul said bodily
exercise profited little. Little. And so vanity, what is
vanity? He said, turn away my eyes from
looking on, beholding, looking on vanity, that which does not
profit, that which is of no lasting value. What is vanity then? Look at verse two. Ecclesiastes
one, verse two. Vanity of vanity, sayeth the
preacher. Vanity of vanity. And Stanley's whole book, Ecclesiastes,
is about Solomon trying it all. He tried it all. He read through
it. I just glanced through it again,
and he said, I tried wisdom, or worldly wisdom. I got into
science and intellectual reasoning and all that. I just, you know,
delved into the intellect. God made foolish the wisdom of
this world. He said, I delved into pleasure, work and play. I worked, I became a workaholic. Then I became a playaholic. Work
and play. David Solomon said I dole him.
You hear that John? Really, he didn't do anything
that way. He tried it all to its fullest. Nothing to it. Won't last. Riches. Possessions. Oh, he had
them, didn't he? Huh? He had them. Nobody who's ever lived on this
planet. Now, this is the rich generation we live in. If you
look at some of the lifestyles that are rich and famous, they
were paupers compared to Solomon. Read, for yourself, Solomon's
possessions. One table, one lunch, that was
sprayed for Solomon. Why, they killed a hundred calves. Honestly, they brought in wagonloads
of them. So Solomon could have one orange. He said, I tried. I had all that
a human being could possibly have anymore. He said, I tried entertainment.
I hate musicians too. But he got the best. Searched
the land far and wide. I love good music. Bring them
in. Didn't last. Family. Let's hear the conclusion of
the matter. OK, let's hear what Solomon learned
of all this. Look at the last chapter in Ecclesiastes,
OK? And here's what Solomon concluded
in all this. Chapter 12, verse 13. After he tried it all, here's
his conclusion. Verse 13. Let's hear it. Let's
hear the conclusion of the whole matter. And that word fear means worship.
No, commune with, keep his word. This is the whole of man. Duty
is not really a good addition. This is the whole of man. It'll
make a man whole. All right, back to the Psalm
119. So David says, turn away thine
eyes from beholding vanity. Looking on, gazing on, vanity,
what might that be, David? Any kind. Whatever. Don't let me gaze on it with
longing, because it's not going to last. It's of no lasting value. Oh, but let me gaze on Him. Didn't our Lord tell us
to behold? In Psalm 42, didn't He say, John? Behold My Son. Look on it. Gaze on it. Don't take your eyes
off of it. Everything else will fade. Right? Turn me. Turn me. Turn my eyes. Turn my eyes from looking on
anything or anyone but Christ. Thy way. That's what He said.
Quicken me in Thy way. Christ. Make me alive to Christ
and dead to this world. That's what He said. That's not
my intention. Make me. Make me. Make me that
way. Verse 38. Establish me. Establish
thy word unto me. Establish me in thy word. Thy
word in me. David said, The word have I hid
in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. If the Word
is rooted in our mind, our heart, it'll keep us in a right mind.
If God's Word is established in our minds, it'll keep us in
a right mind. You hear that? We'll lose our
minds if we can't recall something from God's Word. If God doesn't
establish His Word, the truth, in our mind, we'll lose our mind. Do you hear that? Oh Lord, establish Thy Word in
me. Write it on the table of my heart,
Thy Word. This is that spring from which
our Lord said we could draw from. When our Lord was talking to
that woman at the well, He said, the water I give, you're never
thirsty. It'll be a well spring, bring
it up. When you need it, just when you get thirsty, bring it
up. Just when you need it. Like an
old cow chewing his cud. You know what cows chew? We talked
about that Sunday. You know what they do? You know
what they're doing when they're chewing cud? You know where that
comes from? Okay? They've got two or three stomachs.
How many stomachs they got here? Three stomachs, I believe. There's
a road out here toward Endicott called Run-It-Bag Creek. Anybody
seen that road? Run-It-Bag? That's one of those
stomachs in a cow. A running back. What they do
is they eat grass and some of that's stored in the running
back. And they regurgitate it. Don't turn your nose up. We need
to do this. We need to bring it up again.
Don't let it pass out in the grass. Bring it up again. And
chew on some more. That's what cows do. Dumb cow.
Dumb cow. Dumb humans. Dumb humans. Establish thy word. Put it in
my running back. And let me chew on it later.
Huh? Establish thy, you'll never forget that anyway. It's like
that old hermit crab. You never forgot that. Establish
thy word. in me. Establish me in thy word. Establish it. That means make
me strong, firm, established. May I believe your word and your
gospel so fully that I can say with all of you, I know whom
I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. What
day? Any day. Today, tomorrow, the
next day, the judgment day. I know who I am. Establish. You know what Peter
prayed for us? That we might be settled, strengthened,
established. Established, strengthened, settled.
That we might say with Eli one of the worst tidings that we
could possibly hear come. It's the Lord. And we might say
with Job, But even worse, the Lord gave and the Lord took it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. There is a man in whom God has Huh? Do you need his prayer? Why? Establish thy word. I can quote a few verses. Establish
it. Huh? I know a few verses. I want
you to establish it. I need to understand it. I need
establishment and so forth. So that I might say with Luther, here I stand. I can't do anything
else. Or say with Peter, to whom shall
we go? This is life. Life. Verse 39, turn, turn away my
reproach which I fear. What he's saying there is restraining
me. Turn away my reproach which I
fear. I fear bringing an approach from
the Lord. Don't you? That ought to be our greatest
fear. You know, when the Lord said to his disciples, the hand
of him that betrayeth me is on the table. They all, every one of them began
to say, Lord, is it I? Is it I? I fear bringing an approach
upon Christ, upon you, this church, upon my family, don't you? And if the Lord doesn't restrain
us, I've seen some leading members,
Take terrible falls and bring grave reproach. David knew something
about reproach. He said, I fear more than anything
else bringing reproach on my Lord. That's what he's saying,
Martin. Restrain me. Constrain me, he
said. Make me. Now restrain me. Don't let me. Make me. Make me go in the path that I
commanded. Don't let me. Don't let me fall. Restrain me. And he goes on to say, Thy judgments
are good. Judgment. When I think of judgments,
I think of God's chastening, God's correction, God's admonition,
God, whatever he does to restrain me. Oh, at the time when he said,
go your best and lean over that bed. There was nothing good. I found
nothing good in that whatsoever. But now I say, I didn't, he did
not deal with me according to my standards. But what he did,
how he did deal with me, Henry, was good. It was good. It was
good. David says this all the way through
this psalm. He says, it's good for me that
I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. It's the
only way I'm going to learn. Teach me. Teach me. Your judgments
are good. The judge of the earth. What he does is not only good,
it's right. It's right. It's the only way
he can do it. Keep me from bringing approach
on you. I fear that. And your judgments
here are good. Your corrections, your admonitions
here are good. They're good for me. I need them.
Whatever form they may come in. Verse 40, Behold, I have longed
after thy precept. Behold, I have longed after thy
precept. David said, I have longed. Can
you say this from the heart? When our Lord asked Peter, do
you love me? And our Lord said, do you long
after my word? Do you really want these things?
Can you say from the heart, Lord, I do long after thy precept. Can you? I do long after thy
precept. Lord, thou knowest I love your
gospel. You know, you put it there. You
know I do. You know, in spite of everything
about me, you know I love you. You know I love you. Lord, I
do love your word. In spite of the times I go long
periods of time without even thinking about it, you know I
love you. In spite of the fact that sometimes
I pay more attention to other things and more interested in
The words of men and the word of God, you know, I love you.
I long. I've longed for, you know, that and
I love your people. You know. I long for their fellowship. Lord, thou knows, you know. And
so he says, quicken me. That's the last quicken. In the
land of the dead, I need constant quickness, don't you? In the
land of the dead, when this thing is turning away
my eyes, I need my eyes to be single. Don't you? Single. And sometimes
the only way to have that is to close these eyes. One old
writer said, it's good that the Lord gave us eyelids. We might close our eyes too much
as we sing. Close my eyes, give me one eye.
Quicken me, quicken my spiritual eye and ear. Oh, I'm too prone
to look at and look upon and behold the things of this world.
Quicken my spiritual eye. Quicken my spiritual ear. Let
me be prone to listen to what you say and what they're saying.
My heart. Let my heart skip a beat at the
thought of coming to worship you and be with your people and
around your word. Let my heart skip a beat. Don't
climb my heart into covetousness. My hands, my feet, so quicken
me. How? How does David say he needs to
be quickened? Hmm? Look at it. Quicken me in
thy righteousness. I mean, that's a strange thing
to say. Quicken me in thy righteousness. What is God's righteousness?
How is he going to quicken me in his righteousness? Well, Romans
10 says, now, Romans 10 says, that many that are zealous for
God, but not according to knowledge. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Four. Tenfold. Tenfold. Christ is the end of
the lawful righteousness. Quicken me in thy righteousness. Let me see if I can illustrate
this. The gospel of Christ. is the
only thing that will really quicken a dead heart. It really will. The thing that deadens us is
this world and sin and so forth. That's the thing that deadens
us. It's like this world is a sedative. This world is like chloroform. And only when we hear the gospel
of Christ will we be quickened, made alive. Dead sinners will
only be quickened when they hear of Christ and his righteousness.
Christ and his righteousness. I remember Brother Todd telling
me that when he was lying on what he thought to be his deathbed,
he honestly did not think that he was going to live to see another
day. And he began to think about his rotten life. His sinful life, his own wretchedness. And he said this verse of Scripture
came to him as clear as if somebody spoke it out loud. Blessed is
the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Imputeth righteous. And I'm going to live before
God someday because of Jesus Christ's righteousness. Jesus Christ's righteousness.
Quicken that. That'll make your heart skip
a beat. That'll get your mind clear again. The righteousness
of Christ. And he also prays here for that
God would make me alive in Christ. The life I live, Paul said, I
live by the faith of the Son of God who loves me. For me to
live is Christ, you see. To know Christ and be like Christ.
So that's what he's saying. So, can you enter into this prayer? Eight things. Lord, teach me.
Teach me Christ and I'll believe Him. And I'll believe Him to
the end, only if you teach me. Give me understanding and that
by experience. And I'll lay hold on your word.
I'll only lay hold on it when you make me understand it. I'll
observe it with my whole heart. Make me, make me, make me. Set
my feet in paths of righteousness. That's what I delight in, Your
Word. Incline me. Incline my heart by testimony,
Your promises, and not to the things I say. Turn me. Turn away my eyes from beholding
vanity. Oh, it's vanity. Quicken me. Make me alive to You. established
by word of the by servant who's devoted to your fear. Let that happen who's devoted
to that fear. That's that's the mark of a true
child of God. They fear God. They always have
and always will. Turn to me. Restrain me from
bringing reproach on you. I fear that. Your judgments,
your corrections are good. I need them. Behold, I have longed
after your word, your precepts, your command, your gospel. Now
quicken me in Christ. Make me alive in Christ. Make
me alive. Quicken this old dead sinner. Make Christ to be mine. All right,
let's sing, I think, in closing. I hope the Lord will put that
in your running bag. You're going to need it. You're going to need it. Until Sunday. All right. 172. Let's play. Half
charge. And I want to sing this to, I want to sing this to 186.
The church is one foundation. 186. All right. When our God is gone, ain't no
wisdom from on high. For truth hath changed and changed
in the light of our dark sky. The first two is the last. Look at the word. The Church, from her dear Master,
received a gift divine, and still would like to give it for all
eternity. the golden casket, where he is
a student of our school, in the history of the future, of the
rising sun in the west. so